Codename: ARCADIA
by ChocoboDownUnder
Summary: Yuzuki Nakashima is the new transfer student at Sweet Amoris High, but she has a secret. Codenamed: ARCADIA, she's actually a genetically enhanced soldier on run from an organization called GALAHAD. While attempting to start a new life will she be able to keep her secret? Can she protect her new friends, or will GALAHAD catch up to her? Rated M for future chapters.
1. The Transfer Student

**Author Note:**

**Okay so this is my very first fanfic, started off as a crazy little idea that popped into my head one day, so I hope you all enjoy it. :)**

Chapter One: The Transfer Student

* * *

_I remember the first time we me. You were so cold. I refused to speak to you and yet, I did. Something about you just seemed so… Intriguing._

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

"So this is Sweet Amoris High."

I look around the school, taking in my surroundings. The school consisted of a main building, a small gardening shed, gymnasium and a courtyard.

_'It's smaller than I imagined, but at least I'm safe here. _I muse.

"Oh well."

I walk towards the main building. Once inside a plump, little old lady with grey hair and glasses waddles towards me.

"You must be the new student. I'm the principle of Sweet Amoris High." She says cheerfully.

"Yes, I'm Yuzuki Nakashima, it's a pleasure to meet you." I reply with a happy smile.

_'That's right, smile Yuzuki. Act normal.'_

"Yes well, you need to see Nathaniel about your enrolment forms. He's the student body president. The student council room is just down the hall to the right." She says, while pointing down the hallway.

"If you have any questions just ask Nathaniel."

With that she toddles off down the hallway.

I walk towards the student council room and lightly knock on the door.

"Come in." A voice calls.

I open the door and step into the room. It's a standard room with a few desks and filing cabinets.

"Can I help you?"

Peering over a monstrous stack of paperwork is a boy with fine blonde hair and golden eyes, wearing a plain white button up shirt with a blue tie and brown slacks.

Even though it's only the start of the day, he looks really tired.

_'Poor guy, don't tell me he does this every day. That'd suck big time'_

"I'm looking for someone called Nathaniel. Since you're the only one here I assume you're him? The principle said I should come see you about my enrolment forms, I'm the new transfer student Yuzuki Nakashima." I reply.

He smiles a little, "Yes, you are correct, I'm Nathaniel. Let me just get your enrolment forms."

He stands up and walks over to the filing cabinets and starts shuffling through them.

"Ah here they are. Okay, you're still missing a $25 enrolment fee and an ID photo. You can get an ID photo at the dollar shop just across the street." He says with somewhat practiced ease, as if this seems to be a regular occurrence.

"Alright, here's the $25 enrolment fee. I'll go get that photo, be back in a few." I hand him the money and turn to leave the room.

I quickly head over and get my photo taken and head on back to Nathaniel.

On my way back I accidentally run into someone.

"Sorry, didn't see you." I look up. Grey eyes clash with violet.

Standing before me is a tall boy with red, shoulder length hair, wearing a black jacket, a Winged Skull shirt and black pants.

"Obviously." He drawls.

"Wow what's you problem?" I ask, now irritated at his moody attitude.

_'Stay calm Yuzuki, we don't need to deal with broken bones on your first day.'_

He glares at me. "None of you damn business Scarface." He growls. He turns around and stalks back down the hallway.

"Asshole." I mutter and continue my way to the student council room.

I reach the student council room and stop at the door.

_'Okay, relax, nothing's happened at all.'_

I open the door and walk over to Nathaniel.

"Here's the photo Nathaniel, anything else?" I ask casually.

"No that's all." He replies. "You can head on to class now, here's your timetable."

"Right, thanks. See you later." I say, giving him a small wave.

I step out and the bell rings signalling third period.

"Welcome to high school Yuzuki." I mutter to myself.

I walk down to my next class which was history and step into the room. The whole class goes silent and turns to look at me.

I scan the room, only to find a rather boring looking bunch.

The teacher clears his throat. "Alright class, we have a new student joining us today so please do your best to make her feel welcome."

He then looks at me. "Would you like to introduce yourself?" He asks.

Nodding my head in compliance I step forward to introduce myself.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

_'Another shitty day at school'_ I think to myself. _'First Pretty Boy and then getting run into by some newbie. Why is school mandatory?'_

I walk towards my history class and take a seat at the back of the classroom.

"Ah Castiel, so nice of you to join us." Says Mr O'Donnell with a slight frown tugging at his lips.

"Yeah whatever." I grumble, wishing class would end already.

While looking out the window for some kind of entertainment, the class becomes silent.

_'What the hell? Why's everyone so quiet?'_

I look towards the front of the class to see the strange girl form the hallway again standing next to the teacher. This time however I actually take a proper look at her instead of a passing glance.

She has white, waist length hair and violet eyes. Her outfit consists of a black crop top, mini skirt, thigh high socks, combat boots and fingerless gloves with silver bangles.

_'I get the feeling she likes black.'_ I smirk to myself.

The most interesting part is a scar that starts just under her left eye and goes down her jawline.

I frown, remembering what I said earlier. _'How the hell did she get that?'_

"Alright class, we have a new student joining us today so please do your best to make her feel welcome." Says Mr O'Donnell.

He quickly turns her and says something, she nods and steps forward.

"My name is Yuzuki Nakashima. I'm a transfer student from Japan. That's all you need to know." She says rather bluntly.

_'Well that's an interesting way to introduce yourself.'_

"You can take a seat next to Castiel, the one with the red hair at the back." Says the teacher while pointing at me.

She looks at me and frowns, obviously not happy to see me. She walks over, sets her things onto the desk and sits down.

I could actually feel the hate radiating from her.

_'This should be interesting.'_

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

_'Of all the people, I just HAD to be put next to him.'_

I'd escaped the classroom as soon as the bell rang, practically jumping out of the seat.

_'Damn asshole, call me Scarface. Next time I'll definitely knock him out.'_

While walking towards my locker my path is blocked by three girls.

"Move it newbie, can't you see I'm walking here?" Sneers a blonde haired girl wearing way too much makeup.

"With makeup like that it's kind of hard not to miss you Princess." I scoff and push my way between them.

_'This really isn't my day.'_

I wander around the school to find a place to eat lunch.

_'Damn, there's too many people around.'_

Looking up, I could see the top of the building.

_'Guess I'm going up there.'_

Checking to see if anyone's around before I did anything, I quickly run up the side of the building and leap over the safety fence.

"Ah, much better up here." The view was really nice and the atmosphere relaxing.

As I sit down and start to eat lunch, I gaze out to the distance.

My mind wanders back into my memories.

My partner SABER, abandoning the name ARCADIA, leaving Galahad.

Their incessant pursuit of me, killing those who were once my allies. Losing everything I'd known.

I'm all alone now.

_'SABER. If only you were still here.'_

* * *

**Author note:**

**So was it okay? :D**

**Reviews would be awesome, so let let me know what you guys think about so far. Even if you didn't like don't be afraid to tell me. It could help me make it better, a little negativity never hurt anyone. :)**


	2. Questionable Circumstances

**Author Note:**

**Okay so I just want to start of with a thank you to Ochibii-chan for your review. I do plan to write more so hopefully I can keep up the good work for all you readers out there. :3**

Chapter Two: Questionable Circumstances

* * *

*Flashback*

"So what exactly do they want us to do?" I turn to look at my partner perched on the buildings edge.

His raven hair fluttering in the wind, azure eyes deep in thought.

"SABER?"

"Our orders are to go in and eradicate the lab inside that building over there." He points towards a corporate building a few kilometres north-east of our position.

"Is that it?" I ask. Bombing missions weren't generally given to Brigadiers.

He looks down at his PDA.

"That's what it says. Apparently they got their hands onto something they shouldn't have. The higher ups are in a fit because of it and want something done about it."

"So security's going to be tight?"

"So they say. Come on, we better get going." He says, quickly standing up.

I nod. "Right."

We leap across the city rooftops to our target, stopping just outside of it.

SABER points to the right.

"There should be a maintenance shaft entrance over there." He whispers.

I look around and spot it just as a patrol passes.

I smirk at SABER. "I guess we better be quick then huh?"

"Yeah, we'll wait until they pass again, and then move in. Don't touch them though, if they go missing people will start to get suspicious."

His PDA beeps and he quickly looks at the update.

"The lab is underground, so we need to go down several floors to reach it." He murmured.

We wait for the patrol to pass, and then quickly make our way over to the entrance, closing it on the way through.

Using our PDA's, we navigate our way to the lab.

"Hey, don't you find it strange that we've been sent on this mission? I whisper to SABER. "I mean, don't Spec Ops usually do this kind of stuff?"

"They do. But for some reason the higher ups have sent us instead. Maybe there's something here that Spec Ops can't handle. Security's probably too tight for them to get through." He suggests.

"But we haven't come across or seen anyone other than the patrol up top." I state, something wasn't right about this mission.

He shrugs. "That's true ARCADIA. But we don't have any reason to abort the mission. It's best if we just get in, set the charges and then get out."

I sigh at his response.

"I just have a really bad feeling about this."

After reaching the lab we quickly check for any personnel. Nothing, the whole floor was completely empty.

_'Where the hell IS everyone?'_

I look towards SABER's direction.

"I know what you're thinking ARCADIA." He says quietly.

I huff at him. "So where the hell is everyone? I thought this place was supposed to be crawling with security."

He sighs. "I don't..."

***CLANG!***

We spin around, facing the direction the noise.

"What the hell was that?" I say breathlessly, looking at the far end of the lab.

SABER walks forward and stops at a door.

"It seems to have come from Bio-Engineering."

I walk down and stand beside him. We both look down to see a locked control panel.

_'I wonder what's in there.'_

"I'll open it." I say. "Watch my back 'kay."

"Sure."

I take out my PDA and connect it with the control panel and start hacking. After getting around a few minutes the panel lights up green with a successful ding.

_*Access granted. Welcome to Bio-Engineering.*_

"Alright." I say, giving SABER a thumbs up. He smiles back at me.

We step into the room, searching for the source of the sound. The room is filled with odd and grotesque experiments, obviously the creations of twisted scientists.

_'Not that we weren't experiments either.'_

I hear SABER sigh.

"Come on, let's go there's nothing here." He says walking towards the door.

Suddenly I see something move behind him. It's big.

"Oh shit! SABER! BEHIND YOU!" I shout.

"Huh?"

**RRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!**

***CRASH***

"SABER!"

*Flashback End*

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

Violet eyes snap open, gazing at a blue sky. I stretch my arms out to rid myself of the stiffness in them. Reaching into my pocket I check the time, seeing that it's halfway through fifth period I start cursing to myself.

_'Damn, I must've fallen asleep. Oh well, I never liked maths anyway and I think I'll live skipping English.'_

Sitting on the concrete roof I enjoy the tranquil atmosphere, once again I start to nod off to sleep when...

***BANG!***

The door to the roof was violently kicked open, a grumbling red head stalks through and goes up to the fence.

"God damn it." He curses, punching the fence. Silently, I giggle at his actions.

_'Someone's pissed. I think I'll have a little fun with him.'_

"You know, punching a fence isn't going to solve anything." I say smugly.

Castiel quickly turns around to find me sitting above the door, a brief flash of surprise in his eyes, quickly disappearing soon after.

Lips set in a thin line. "How the hell did you get up here?" He growls. Clearly not happy to see me up here.

"I'm sorry, am I invading your territory? I'll leave if that's what you want."

I stand up to leave.

"You didn't answer my question."

_'Persistent bastard.'_

"I climbed the wall, does that answer your question?" I reply.

"I'm serious here. No one but me has the keys to the roof, so how the hell did you get up here?" He spat.

Giggling, I turn and face him.

"I'll leave that up to your imagination, I can't give away all my secrets now can I?"

He glares at me.

Frowning, I walk up to him, standing only inches apart.

"Apart from that." I began. "I personally don't see why I should have to explain myself to the likes of you."

Stepping back and turning on my heel, I leave him and walk down the stairs and out the building.

_'Time to go home I think. I've had enough for one day.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

Standing alone on the roof, I watch Yuzuki walk off down the stairs.

Sighing, I lean against the fence.

_'Great work Castiel. Your plans of apologising just went out the window there.'_

I sit down and begin to ponder on how she got up here.

_'Climbed up the wall? Does she really take me for an idiot, it's not humanly possible to scale a five story building without any equipment. Unless she put it somewhere.'_

Quickly standing up, I start searching for anything that could've been used for her to climb up. Although why anyone would climb a building is just stupid.

After a few minutes my search revealed nothing, no clues or anything.

_'Well that was a waste of time. What made you think you'd find anything in the first place stupid?' _I curse inwardly.

_'But the door was locked and I'm the only one with the keys. On top of that there wasn't any indication that it had been broken into. Either she's really good a lock picking or she really did climb the wall.'_

The thought starts spinning around in my head. Add the scar on her face and things start to get interesting.

A small smirk tugs at my lips.

_'I think it might be a good idea to watch this new girl.'_

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Hopefully this chapter was interesting enough to read. :3**

**I decided to add a flash back so you could get a little bit of an insight to previous events before the story and add a little bit of suspense, so I hope you guys enjoyed that. I will add more flashbacks, where I'm not to sure just yet but I will add them. :)**


	3. Unexplained Absences and Confrontations

**Author Note: Right so this chapter is a little different. While it's still centered around Yuzuki, most of the story will come from Nathaniel's and Castiel's POV. A little bit of male rivalry to spice things up. Enjoy :3**

Chapter Three: Unexplained Absences and Confrontations

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

_'Not another one.'_

I groan at the sight of, yet another, unexplained absence note for Castiel.

_'Why can't he just sign the damn note? It's not that hard, then again it's Castiel. He makes everything hard.'_

Looking around I spot another one.

_'Looks like Yuzuki got one too. I suppose it's not that bad, it was her first day.'_

Sighing, I rub my temples, feeling the start of a head ache forming. Getting up, I take the notes and walk out in the hallway to find Castiel and Yuzuki, although not paying too much attention to where I'm walking.

***THUMP***

"Whoa Nate, take it easy. You might hurt yourself or someone else with all that spacing out."

_'Huh? Nate?'_

There in front of me is the new transfer student Yuzuki. A small smile on her pink, full lips that...

_'Whoa wait, where am I taking this? I only just met the girl yesterday.'_

"Sorry, I'm just tired. All that paperwork is wearing me out a bit." I say sheepishly, looking at the ground.

"Need any help?" She asks.

"Yes, I need you to sign this note explaining your absence during fifth and sixth period yesterday." I reply handing her the note.

Taking the note and reading it, she looks back up to me.

"No problem. Got a pen?" She asks.

I hand her a pen and she quickly scribbles own her note, then hands it back to me.

"Anything else?"

"Actually um, could you do me a huge favour. I have an absentee note that Castiel needs to sign too. Could you take it to him please?"

A slight frown forms on her face.

_'Argh, I knew this would happen. No one ever wants to go near Castiel.' _I mentally kick myself for even asking.

"Well me and Castiel aren't on the best of terms, but since you asked and I did offer to help I'll do it."

_'What?!'_

"Really?" I ask, completely dumbfounded. "You don't mind?"

She smiles at me. "I did offer to help out didn't I? I'm not going to back out now just because it's Castiel. Although, I will admit I can't hold any promises of it actually being signed." She rubs the back of her neck, a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

_'She's kinda cute.'_

"As long as you try it's okay. It's nice to have someone willing to help out." I say, handing her the note.

"Mr President doesn't get much help huh?"

I sigh. "No, I don't and it's almost as if Castiel goes out of his way to make things harder for me."

She laughs. "Well there's always going to be that one person who makes life difficult. I'll go see if I can get this note signed, be back in a few."

Waving, she walks down the hallway in search of Castiel.

I read her absentee note and start to laugh a little.

_**'Had a run in with a nasty red head. Went home to lock the doors and eat ice cream :)'**_

_'I get a feeling she doesn't like Castiel.'_

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

Stepping outside I start searching for Castiel, which was surprisingly harder than it looks. Every time you don't want him, he's there. Now when I want him, he isn't ANYWHERE.

Frustrated, I ask random people if they've seen him around. Finally being pointed to behind the gymnasium.

Walking around the corner I immediately spot him.

_'Not that it's hard to miss hair that red.'_

"Oi Castiel!" I yell.

He looks at me. "What do you want?"

Stepping towards him I pull out the note.

"Mr President wants you to sign this note." I say while handing him the note.

He pushes the note back at me.

"Tell Mr President that he wants his note signed, he should come see me himself instead of sending his groupies." He hisses.

_'Groupie?'_

I stand there and stare at him.

"What?" He says, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Do you have to be such an asshole? Just sign the damn note instead of being a damn pain and making everyone's life hell." I snap at him.

Glaring at me he replies. "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do? If I don't want the sign the note then I won't, simple as that. So what are you going to do about that now? Punch me?"

My eyebrow twitches. _'Oh you have no IDEA how much I want to.'_

"Are you really that lazy? Or are you just trying to be rebel or something? Following rules too mainstream?" I spat. "Now would you kindly sign the note, please?"

"No, I said it once, I'm not saying it again." He growls.

_'GRRRRR, I swear this guy has no idea how lucky he is. If it wasn't for those stupid rules of society I would've put him through a wall by now.' _I seethe.

"Fine, be that way." I grumble and stomp off to the student council room.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

While quietly working through the never ending mountain of paperwork, the door is suddenly thrown open and a seething Yuzuki stomps in.

_'Oh Castiel, what did you do this time?'_

Standing up I look at Yuzuki.

"I take it he didn't sign it?" I ask, although I could already figure out the answer just by looking at her.

She sighs and hands me the note, turning around to sit down.

"No. Sorry Nate. I would've tried harder but I was getting to the point of going to break his arm if he didn't." She says tiredly, putting her head onto the desk.

"You trying to break his arm? As bad as that is, it would an interesting sight to see." I chuckle lightly.

She frowns at me. "I'm serious here Nate. If there was a competition for the biggest asshole he'd most certainly win first place."

I chuckle at her statement, slightly amused at her frustration. I sit down next to her and put a hand on her back.

"It's okay Yuzuki. If anything I shouldn't have asked you to go do that for me. Castiel can be quite a handful and no one seems to be able to get through to him." I say as supportively as possible. "So don't beat yourself up over it okay. I'll go see him later about it."

She looks up to me. "But I said I'd help and didn't do anything."

"It's okay, I can manage. I've been doing myself for quite a while so I'm used to handling things by myself." I reply.

A brief flash of sadness passes through her eyes.

"No one should have to do things alone." She says quietly. "Which is why I'm going to stay here and help you."

She stands up and walks over to the stacks of paperwork.

"Starting today, I'm your new assistant." She says with a grin.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

_'Damn, why do I always mess everything up? She was just doing a favour and I snap at her. She's never going to accept an apology now.'_

Grumbling as I slowly trudge my way down the hallway to the student council room.

_'But even though she was doing a favour, Pretty Boy still should have done it himself instead of sending her the coward.'_

I finally reach the student council room and was about to open the door when I overheard voices. Peering through the window of the door, I spot Nathaniel and Yuzuki talking, with his hand on her back.

_'Wait, why is Nathaniel touching her?'_

Nathaniel never touches anyone, he's too up tight for that. When did these two get to be so close for Pretty Boy to actually engage in physical contact. Suddenly Yuzuki gets up and walks over to the paperwork on the desk.

"Starting today, I'm your new assistant."

_'Are you KIDDING me? She can't be serious.'_

Sure enough, they both start working on the stack of papers with smiles on their faces.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

I have to admit, Yuzuki surprised me. With her help we managed to get through all the paperwork which is a first for me. Usually I have to leave it and finish it he next morning. Glancing at the clock on the wall I read the time.

_'Wow, 5:45pm? I can't believe we managed to finish all of this.'_

I look over to Yuzuki to find her stretching her lithe arms in the air.

"Whew, I'm beat." She says breathlessly. "How you do this everyday beats me."

I smile a bit at her statement. "Well you can go home now, I have to lock up and stuff which I can easily do myself."

She shrugs. "If you say so." Standing up and walking over to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She waves, then steps out the door.

Packing up the last few things and putting them away, I lock the cabinets and head to the door. Closing it behind me and locking it, I could feel someone watching me.

Looking around to see if anyone was around, only to find an empty hallway. The eerie silence setting my nerves on end.

"I someone there?" I call out.

A figure steps out from the shadows and stops just feet away.

"Castiel?" I gasp.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

"Castiel?"

I stand and glare at Nathaniel, just the sheer sight of him pissing me off.

He frowns. "What do what Castiel? Isn't it a bit late to wandering around the school?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Cast your spell over another girl have we? Using you blonde charms to get them to do your work?" I hiss. "I know you sent Yuzuki over with the note and now she's you're personal after school assistant."

"My interactions with her have nothing to do with you." He growls.

"It does when you send her to me when it should be you!" I shout. "Now you leave her alone Nathaniel, she doesn't need comfort from someone like you." I step closer to him, standing inches from him and sending him a hard glare.

He meets my glare, stepping up.

"Really Castiel, that's why you're here? This isn't about me sending her to do an errand for me. This is about the fact that you're jealous that she choose to spend time with me and not you."

I snap.

Grabbing his shirt I throw him into the lockers behind him, hearing a groan from Nathaniel.

"I said leave her alone Nathaniel." I say, my voice dangerously low. "Or do I have to beat it into you?"

He chuckles lightly and looks me directly in the eye.

"Wow." He drawls. "You really are smitten aren't you?"

"Why you..."

I lift my fist up ready to punch him when I suddenly feel a powerful grip on my arm.

"Stop it Castiel." An unknown voice says. "Before things get ugly." The threat sounding very convincing.

I go to pull my arm from their grip but it was too strong.

_'Damn, this person's strong.'_

"I thought you went home Yuzuki." Nathaniel says, obviously surprised.

_'Yuzuki? Impossible.'_

Turning around I spot her, still having a firm grip on my arm.

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

I really didn't want to do this but I had no choice.

Here I am, in the middle of a fight holding back Castiel from punching Nathaniel. Both boys surprised at my sudden appearance but also for different reasons as well. Nathaniel, having believed I had already gone home home. And Castiel? At the fact I caught him mid punch and being able to hold him there despite him trying to break free earlier.

_'This is going to be a pain. I can already tell he knows I'm much stronger than he is, something that really shouldn't be possible with someone of my build. In reality I shouldn't be able to do this.'_

All three of as stand in silence, unsure of what to do next, so I speak up.

"I think it's time for you to go home now Castiel."

He stands there and blinks, as if he still can't comprehend it's me.

"Now Castiel." I growl, slowly releasing his arm.

Taking a step back, he rubs his arm where my grip was.

A deep frown sets on my face.

"I won't ask again Castiel." He was really starting to annoy me now.

He quietly steps back and quickly shuffles down the hallway, disappearing from sight.

Putting a hand though my hair, I sigh and look at Nathaniel who was staying quiet. Probably because he just got his ass saved by a girl.

"Come on, let's get you home."

He nods a little. "Okay."

I help him up and we start to walk to the school car park.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

We slowly make our way over to the school car park, Yuzuki helping me since my back was hurt from Castiel throwing me into the lockers just moments before. When we reach my car she takes the keys from me and puts me in the passenger seat.

"What are you doing?" I ask quizzically.

She giggles. "Driving you home silly, there ain't no way I'm letting you drive with a back like that." Slamming the door shut, she walks around and gets into the drivers seat and starts the car, driving in the direction of my house.

"How do you know which way to go?" I ask. I never once told her where I lived.

"I may have looked at you file earlier today." She replies with a wink.

_'Well that's a little disturbing. But not as much as earlier though, I never would have thought her voice could sound so cold, like she really was ready to do something to Castiel.'_

Shifting in my seat I stare out the window.

_'She was able to hold off one of Castiel's punches too. I've been punched by him before and it packs quite a bit of power, he fractured my damn jaw once. Yet she was able catch him and hold him as if it was nothing.'_

Out of the corner of my eye I watch Yuzuki drive, somehow knowing exactly where to go even though she's only been here for a few days. I look at her scar, starting under her left eye and reaching down across her cheek to her jaw. Looking closer I notice that she has quite a few of them all over her body. Most people think scars are hideous, something to be hidden but hers somehow adds to her beauty. But it raises the question as to how someone so kind and caring would get these markings that are mostly seen only on hardened criminals.

"Either you like staring or there's something on your mind."

"Huh? Oh sorry." I mumble, embarrassed I was caught staring.

We sit in silence as Yuzuki drives, soon arriving at my house.

Pulling the car over to a stop and turning the ignition off she steps out walks around and helps me out of the car.

As we walk up to the front door the outdoor light switches on and my mother steps out.

"Nathaniel? Where on earth have you been? Do you know what time it is?." She kept rambling on until we stood right in front of her.

"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Mother asks worriedly.

I go to speak but was soon cut off by Yuzuki.

"He had an accident ma'am. Lost his footing. I found him and drove him home, you should probably put ice on his back to prevent swelling." She says surprisingly calmly. "Also take him to the doctors as soon as possible in case of any damage."

"Oh, yes, of course. Thank you for bringing him home." Mother replies. "Come on Nathaniel lets get you inside." And begins ushering me inside.

"Wait." I say. I look at Yuzuki. "How are you getting home?" I ask worriedly.

"Heh, I can just walk." She grins, giving me a thumbs up.

"But you live on the other side of town! I can't just let you walk there by yourself at night, it's dangerous!" I exclaim. Was she insane? Walk home? WALK?! That'll take hours and there's all kinds of strange people on the streets at night.

She chuckles. "Don't worry about it, I can handle myself and it's not as far as you make it out to be." Smiling at me, she turns and walks down the footpath.

"I'll see you later Mr President!" She yells over her shoulder and casually walks away, leaving me behind.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Wow that was long. I just started typing and couldn't stop, I was on FIRE! :D**

**Hope you enjoyed it, even if it was longer than my previous ones. (Hope I didn't it out too much.)**

**Anyway please review, always nice to get feedback from readers. :)**


	4. Starting Over

**Author Note:**

**Alright, chapter four. A bit of drama here, insight to a jealous Nathaniel and a short cat fight and eating chocolate cake. Enjoy :3**

Chapter Four: Starting Over

* * *

_You tried to right your wrongs. Eventually we became closer... slowing easing into each others lives. I was happy... but sad at the same time. While you were different from each other... so much of you were the same. So much it was painful._

* * *

**Castiel POV**

Grabbing my keys from my pocket I open the front door. Turning on the lights I make my way up stairs to my room. I slowly take off my jacket, putting it down on the bed.

"Oh shit."

Looking at my right arm I could see bruising where Yuzuki had grabbed me earlier. I gently rub my arm, groaning slightly at the dull pain.

_'Yuzuki really did that?'_

I could tell she was strong but to actually cause bruising means she's way stronger than she looks. And the look on her face, she looked ready to kill.

She'd probably do it too. I haven't exactly given her a reason to like me, if anything I just give her more of a reason to hate me.

_**"Really Castiel, that's why you're here? This isn't about me sending her to do an errand for me. This is about the fact that you're jealous that she choose to spend time with me and not you."**_

Laying back onto my bed, Nathaniel's statement replays in my mind. Was I jealous? Sure Yuzuki's cute but that wasn't why I snapped was it? I'm not... smitten. Right?

_'Who are you kidding Castiel? Ever since you met her you can't stop thinking about her.'_

It's true, I can't stop thinking about her. Something about her just draws me.

But now she hates me.

_'Argh why does is everything so complicated?'_

I have to apologise to her, try and get on her good side. Maybe then I'll have a chance.

_'So now you're competing with Pretty Boy for her affections? God what's wrong with you?'_

What is wrong with me. Before I never really cared but after seeing her with Nathaniel... I wished it was me.

I stretch out my arms. Next time I see her I'll definitely apologise. There's no way I'm going to lose to Nathaniel, he may have a head start but I'll definitely beat him. I fall asleep smiling, looking forward to starting over.

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

The bell rings, signalling the end of the day. Gathering my things I walk to my locker and grab my stuff, heading out to the front gate. I stop when I see a familiar red head walk up to me.

_'Damn, I was doing so well. So much for avoiding him. But I'm not going to answer any of his questions, I can't afford to be found out.'_

He stops a few feet away from me.

"Hey." He says quietly. I stay silent. "Can I... talk to you?" He asks.

"What for?" I growl. Castiel flinches slightly from my tone.

_'What's with him? No comeback? Why is he talking to me?'_ I stand there observing Castiel's behaviour.

He looks away from my gaze. "I... I wanted to... I want to apologise to you." He says, quietly enough for only us to hear.

_'Wait, he's apologising to me?' _Although confused, I listen to what he has to say.

"I've been nothing but rude to you, even though you never did anything to me to deserve it." He pauses for a bit, like he's waiting for me to reject him. "Every time we spoke, you'd caught me in a bad mood so I took it out on you. So I'm really sorry for how I've been treating you."

I stand there completely dumbfounded. Where this apology came from I've no idea, more importantly, how do I deal with this situation. Do all teenagers do this? Just randomly come up and apologise like this?

"Um... apology accepted." I awkwardly reply.

Castiel wears a shocked expression. "Really? You're not angry? I mean... I was really horrible to you." He quickly turns shy again.

_'Maybe I was wrong about him. He's not a bad person, just misunderstood... and I didn't help by snapping back at him.'_

"Well I'm still a little bit upset... But if you really mean it, then forgive you." Smiling at him, I rest a hand on his arm. "We all make mistakes... And you've at least tried to fix them, so I have no reason to be angry with you anymore.

A smile starts forming on his lips. "So... Does that mean we can start over?"

Chuckling I smile at him. "I guess we can start over."

"So um... I'll see you around?"

"Sure, why not." Castiel smiles. He waves goodbye and walks away. I wave back and watch him leave.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

"You seem to be in a good mood." I comment at Yuzuki, who currently has a huge grin on her face.

"Hmm? Oh yeah. I guess so... must be because Castiel and I have started over." She says smiling.

_'Started over? What does she mean by that? What the hell did I miss when I was away?'_

Upon seeing my confusion she explains it a bit more.

"The other day Castiel came up to me and apologised for the way he had been treating me earlier. We've been hanging out almost everyday." She cheerfully replies, then quickly goes back to sorting out files, humming a tune that sounded like Winged Skull.

_'So while I was gone Castiel decided to make a move huh? Sneaky bastard, he isn't going to win that easily.'_

I shuffle through the paperwork, putting my signature on them and handing the, to Yuzuki to file away.

_'There's no way I'm letting Yuzuki get close to someone like him.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

A week has passed since my apology to Yuzuki. Slowly, we've gotten to know each other bit by bit. We hang out on the roof during lunch, enjoying the peace and quiet while listening to music. After school we go to basketball, Yuzuki joining a few days ago shows quite a bit of skill.

Lately I heard Amber has been annoying her, pushing her around. Why she puts up when she's so much stronger seems strange. She's still reserved about some things, mainly her past. There are so many questions I want to ask her. But every time I ask she shuts down. Like she doesn't want anyone to know.

"Hey Castiel! You going to play or what?"

Snapping back to reality I notice Yuzuki looking at me strangely.

"Yeah I'm playing. Pass me the ball will you?"

She quickly tosses the ball to me, I bounce it a few times then shoot, sinking it perfectly.

"Show off." I hear Yuzuki mumble.

Chuckling I respond to her comment. "That's rich coming from you. You make me and the other guys like grade schoolers."

She picks up a ball and tosses it into the hoop, sinking it flawlessly.

"Now who's the show off?" I laugh. She turns and pokes her tongue out at me. This only made me laugh more.

"Someone's in a good mood." She grins deviously at me.

I give her a sly smile. "Well it's because I get to spend time with you."

She suddenly stiffens at my comment. A light blush tinges her cheeks, putting her head down so her bangs hide her face, she stares at the floor.

_'Okay maybe that was a little too bold.'_

"Um, are you okay?" I ask, starting to panic a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbles.

"Hey...are you doing anything after this?" I ask sheepishly.

"No. Why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat?" She ponders on my offer, then looks back at me.

"Sure, why not?" She smiles.

_'God I love that smile.'_

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

We packed up the basketball equipment and changed back into our normal clothes. As I was getting ready to leave the change rooms a familiar blonde appeared before me.

"So there you are you little whore." The blonde sneered, her friends standing close behind her.

Cursing to myself I look back at the blonde. "What do you want Amber?"

"You just can't stay away from them can you? First you go for my brother and now you're going for Castiel. You can't just have one guy, you just need to have them all don't you?" Amber spits.

I stand and glare at her, refusing to give her the satisfaction of annoying me. An ugly frown creeps up on her face.

"You stay away from my brother and Castiel, otherwise things are going to get ugly... you here me bitch?" She hisses.

I scoff at her threat. "If I want to hang out with Nathaniel and Castiel I will. I'm not afraid of you Amber, if anything you just amuse me with your empty threats."

Her face turns red. "Why you little cow." She moves to strike me. Stepping to the side I grab her arm and slam her into the wall, a cry of pain bounces of the wall. Amber attempts to free herself and my grip tightens.

"Yuzuki? Are you alright? What was that noise?" Castiel walks in and finds me pinning Amber to the wall.

"Oh Castiel, please help me. This new girl is crazy. I tried to have a conversation with her but she just attacked me." Amber groans, eyes glistening in an attempt to convince him that I started this.

He smirks. "Nice try Amber. But I know Yuzuki wouldn't attack you without you trying something first. You should probably take this as a warning and leave her alone."

A shocked expression passes over her delicate features. I release my grip on her and grab my stuff, walking over to Castiel and out the door. He snickers at Amber's expression and follows me out the door.

"So what exactly did little blondie want?" He asks curiously.

Shrugging at his question. "Told I should stay away from you and Nathaniel before things get ugly."

"Hmm, guess she never thought you'd step up to the challenge." Smacking me on the back, he laughs and walks ahead, leaving me to scramble after him.

After the ordeal with Amber, we soon we soon reach downtown, looking at all the little cafe's along the way. Castiel took me to a small cafe, tucked away in a side alley. It was a little dark but had a cozy atmosphere to it. Sitting at a table Castiel looks up to me.

"I know this place may not seem like much but these guys have the best coffee around." He grins. "So what would you like? Pick anything you want, my treat." Surprised by his offer, I hastily pick up a menu and flick through it. The cafe had all kinds of beverages and cakes to pick from and all sounding delicious. A waitress comes over to take out orders, unable to choose, I order a standard coffee and a slice of chocolate cake.

Castiel laughs a little at my awkwardness and places his order. A few minutes later the waitress returns with coffee and cake in hand and sets them down on the table. I sit there and stare at it for a little bit before I start to eat. Getting a small piece of cake, I put it in my mouth, tasting it strange yet delicious flavour. A huge smile forms on my lips.

_'So this is what chocolate tastes like?'_

"What?" I look up to see Castiel staring at me in an odd way. Cocking his head to the side he speaks again.

"You've never had chocolate before?"

_'Eh? Did I say that out loud? Oh no, I fucked up again. Chocolate is a normal thing to eat, so the fact that I just blurted out this is the first time I've had is pretty much unheard of.'_

Blushing I look down at my cake and poke at it. Unsure of what to say.

_'It's not really my fault I've never had it. The scientists didn't like the idea of us eating it, something about it being bad for you. And caffeine supposedly messed with our senses so I've never even had coffee either.'_

I hear him sigh quietly. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me. I understand that there are things you don't want people to know... Everyone has their secrets, I myself have them. So don't feel like you have to tell me everything." I look up and our eyes lock together. I really was wrong about him. At first I thought he had issues but it seems he doesn't. He also doesn't push me for information like Nathaniel. He's willing to let me keep my secrets instead of making me tell him. But why is it all my confidence disappears when I'm with him?

_'Why are you so much like him?'_

Time slowly ticks away in silence. We finish our order and Castiel pays, I wait for him outside. He comes out, glancing at me from the corner of his eye, asking if I was okay and I quickly nod in response. Walking home together, the silence drags on.

"Um... thanks for taking me out today Castiel. I... I really enjoyed it." I say quietly. He looks at me with a concerned face.

"Are you sure alright?"

_'You look just like him.'_

I laugh a little, rubbing the back of my neck. "Yeah, I just... remembered a few things. I guess I got caught up in my own thoughts. But I really did enjoy today, I've never had chocolate cake before so it was nice to try it with a friend."

A slight blush tinges his pale cheeks. "Oh um, okay. If you had fun then it's alright."

We continue walking, coming up to an intersection.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Castiel asks.

_'You sound so similar.'_

"You sure will." I smile and give him a quick hug. He stiffens slightly but relaxes soon after, wrapping his arms around me in a gentle embrace.

_'You feel so warm... just like he used to be.'_

As minutes pass I realised I'd been hugging him for too long I jump out of his embrace, cheeks flushed. Mumbling a goodbye I quickly turn and dash down the street, leaving Castiel behind. I don't stop running until I reach my apartment and quickly shut the door behind me.

A tear falls, running down my scarred cheek. The only reminder I have of him. Slowly trudging towards my room I drop onto the bed as more tears fall.

_'Why? Why must you be so much like him?'_

Eventually I fall asleep, my face stained with tears that were held back for so long. Memories filling my dreams.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Hello everybody, I hope you liked this chapter. A bit of conflicting emotions in Yuzuki between Castiel and 'him'. I'll let you guys work out who I'm referring to.**

**Anyway please review, I enjoy the feedback you guys give me. **

**Until next time :D**


	5. Secret Manoeuvres

**Author Note:**

**Right, another flashback. This continues on from the previous one in chapter two, so if for some reason you skipped to this chapter I suggest you backtrack to it. This way you get confused while reading :D**

Chapter Five: Secret Manoeuvres

* * *

*Flashback*

"SABER!" I shout out. Rushing forward I find him leaning against a wall.

"SABER, are you alright?" I ask, quickly checking for any wounds, finding a small cut on his forehead.

He coughs a little from the dust. "I'm fine." Brushing me off. "But I think we found what made the noise earlier."

Scanning the room I spot our attacker. A hideous being with twisted limbs and razor sharp claw like weapons, a scientists failed experiment. It spots us and surges towards us, intent on killing.

Pushing SABER out of the way I draw my blades, blocking the monsters attack. After securing a proper foot hold I push the creature back.

As it attempts to strike back, I swiftly jump out of the way landing next to SABER. He stands and draws his weapons, joining me in combat and together we rush forward to attack. It moves to strike, left arm high in the air. I instinctively bring a sword up to block it. As I hold it SABER then jumps in, swiftly cutting the limb off. The monster shrieks in pain, thrashing wildly at us. I leap over it and strike from behind while my partner attacks from the front, hacking and slashing, blood spraying everywhere.

Within moments it falls to the ground, devoid of life. Sheathing my weapons I turn to SABER, anger boiling up inside of me.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! Is this why we were sent? Because these guys in here were making crazy shit like this?!" I shriek in annoyance and rage. "Why the hell weren't we told about this, you almost got killed!'

"I DON'T KNOW DAMN IT!" His face hard and ridgid. Startled by SABER's sudden outburst I shut up. His expression softens a little.

"I don't know why we weren't told. Maybe GALAHAD's intel was false or outdated. All I know is that our orders were to destroy this building." He sighs, leaning against the wall.

"But even if that is the case, why were WE sent? This isn't our field, fuck we're not even supposed to be IN the city, let alone a corporate building's lab. You know as well as I do this mission was fucked from the very beginning." I snap.

"What are you implying ARCADIA?" He asks, frowning at me.

"Remember that mission we did two months back? When we came across those files?"

He nods. "Yeah, the ones with information on GALAHAD's projects and motives. That's when we found out that were created in a lab, that our so called childhood memories were fake. There was also the section detailing project CAPRI."

"Yes, the newest development of genetically enhanced soldiers, that go by the same pairing system as ours. A few days ago we met LEYTE and DULUTH, the prodigies of project CAPRI, while we're the prodigies of the original project EILBOTE. Out of all of the fifty subjects used in project EILBOTE we're the only ones left as the rest have died off in combat or deserted. Since finding those files we've been sent on more missions that have become increasingly harder and potentially deadlier." I pause to let SABER take it all in. "All the while we had knowledge on highly classified information that we shouldn't have."

"And with newer GE soldiers they won't need us anymore. LEYTE and DULUTH would most likely be our replacements should anything happen to us. They were planning on getting rid of us to begin with but then we found out our origins. Making us seen as a potential threat to the organisation or possibly deserting." He growls. "And when GALAHAD has no need for something they dispose it. It doesn't matter what or who it is. Even though we were the most successful subjects from project EILBOTE, we're still nothing more than disposable experiments to them."

We stand in silence, thinking things over. It was the only answer we had, we knew what GALAHAD was like. We knew it was a very real possibility they wanted us dead, being the older GE soldiers and knowing too much about the organisations movements.

If that is the case... then what do we do?

SABER pushes himself off the wall and walks to the exit. "If this is what GALAHAD wants then we should run.

"Ha, and turn into the deserters they feared we would become? Where would we run to SABER?" I ask dryly. "There's no where for us to go."

"Does it matter? As long as we can stay out of their sight we have a chance. If we stick together we could have a normal life. No more following orders and having to kill people over stupid disputes. We could be free."

A normal life? We always did wish we could have one. As well as our freedom. But we just never had the motivation to chase after it. Maybe this really is our chance.

I move to stand next to SABER. "Alright SABER. We'll run... As far away as possible." Smiling he nods, taking my hand in his, together we make our way out of the building. Once outside we smash our PDA's and earpieces so GALAHAD can't track us. Then quickly head west, running as fast as we could. Leaving everything we knew behind.

*Flashback End*

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

_'Damn I'm so tired. Why did I have to dream about that?'_

Sitting in my maths class, I attempt to take notes, failing miserably. Tapping my pen on the table out of boredom I feel a nudge in my side.

"Hey you okay? You kinda spaced out back there." Iris whispers. Iris is a friend I recently made in class, while she can be a little strange at times she's an alright person. Remembering her question I lean slightly closer to her.

"I was just remembering my dream last night."

She raises an eyebrow. "A dream... like a happy dream or a nightmare?"

"It was just something from my memories."

"Your memories huh? Must be pretty serious for you to space out like that."

I shrug. "It's nothing important, don't worry about it. I'm perfectly fine."

I could tell she wasn't buying it but thankfully shook her head anyway and left it at that.

As class ended I walked with Iris to her locker, chatting about random things that popped into our heads as we walked. She opens her locker and puts her books away, grabbing her lunch in the process, then we head off to my locker. When I reach my locker a poster stuck on the door, Iris promptly snatching it and reading the contents while I grab my lunch.

"Hey Yuzuki."

"Yeah, what is it?" I ask.

"Who are you going to the Spring Ball with?"

I stop for moment and turn to her, cocking my head to the side.

"Spring Ball?" I ask confused as to what she meant. "What's that?"

"You don't know what a Spring Ball is?" She asks dumbfounded. I shake my head in response.

Iris, in all her orange haired glory, looked as if she was going to slap me. Is it really that bad that I don't know what a Spring Ball is? She quickly begins to explain it for.

"Basically it's a dance. Everyone finds a date, dress up in fancy clothes and dance. But you gotta get in early, don't wanna be stuck without a date, otherwise it's really embarrassing. I already have someone as well as my dress." She stops and observes me for a bit. "Speaking of dates, you don't have one do you?"

I frown at Iris, she quickly realises her question was really stupid considering just a few moments ago I had know idea what a Spring Ball even was.

"Okay, my bad, that was stupid... Let's start again. Is there anyone you're interested in? Someone you could ask on short notice? The ball is on Friday after all."

I think about it for a moment. I don't really know who I could ask. I don't know many guys here, hell I don't know many people in general. The only people I could think of possibly asking were Castiel and Nathaniel.

_'But Nathaniel is Amber's sister and is really popular with the girls so there'd be a lot of competition. But Amber also has a creepy obsession over Castiel and I can't be bothered getting into another fight with her._

Sighing I look back at Iris. "The only people I could ask would be Nathaniel or Castiel. But Nathaniel's most likely already has a date so that just leaves Castiel. Although Castiel doesn't look like the type to go a Spring Ball."

"Damn, you're right. Well, there's no harm in asking right? So who are you going to ask?"

"Well I guess I'll have to ask Castiel. There's no way I'll be able to as Nathaniel this late."

Iris begins nodding, entering deep thought. "What type of dresses to you like?"

"I don't really wear dresses... but I guess something that's easy to move in. Nothing below the knee or too constricting, gets in the way."

Iris raises an eyebrow. "Gets in the way huh? What do you mean by that?" A sly smirk forms on her face.

I blush realising my comment could be taken in a VERY bad way. "I meant it's easier for me to move in. not anything dirty like you're thinking."

She starts to laugh at the serious yet flushed expression that settled on my face.

"Even so, me and you are going dress shopping tonight. No ifs, buts or maybes."

As soon as school was out, Iris had dragged me out to town. Throwing me into every dress store she could find. She said that since I'm not a fan of long dresses I should get a cocktail dress, whatever they are. Quickly flicking through the racks of dresses she passes me one dress after another, shoving into a change room to try them on.

_'I think I understand why guys don't like shopping with girls. It's been over an hour and we haven't found anything.'_

I shimming into the dresses, stepping out to show Iris, then being told to go back in and try another. Iris is really picky about her dresses.

"Here Yuzuki, try this one on." Iris passes me another dress as I'm getting out the previous one. It was a strapless dress that reached mid thigh in length. A white sash tired around the waist forming a massive bow at the back, accentuating my hour glass figure and little crystals were embroidered onto the chest part of the dress. I quickly slip into it a once again step out to show to Iris.

"Oh. My. God." She stands there and stares at me, I begin to blush, thinking that it must look horrible on me.

"I'll go try a different dress." I start to go back in when I'm suddenly tackled by Iris.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Iris shrieks. "That dress right there was TOTALLY made for you. You look drop dead sexy in it, Hurry up and get changed out of it so we can buy it. Then we can quickly go find you some shoes to wear with it." She then quickly dashes out of the change room with such speed it was almost on par with mine.

I change back into my clothes and pay for the dress, Iris quickly drags me to a shoe store and found a silver pair of heels to go with it. We finally leave to go home, Iris saying that she'll come with me tomorrow to ask Castiel to the ball. When I make it back I hang the dress up into the closet and leave to go make dinner.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

"Achoo." I suddenly sneeze out of nowhere, earning and odd look from my band mate Lysander.

"Um.. bless you?" He says, grinning a little.

"Shut up Lys." I growl at him, wondering where the hell that sneeze came from.

He chuckles at my grumpy response. "I think someone's talking about you."

I glare at him. "What?"

He smiles. "It's an old superstition. When you sneeze for no apparent reason they say it's because someone's talking about you."

_'I sneezed because someone's talking about me? What the fuck?"_

"So what have you done to have people talking about you?"

"I haven't done shit. It's probably dust or something." I snap.

Lysander starts looking at me intently. "Are you sure you haven't done anything?"

I set my guitar against the table and rub my left temple in annoyance. Resisting the urge to throw something at him.

"Yes I'm sure I haven't done anything. I may be an ass sometimes but I haven't done anything recently to earn gossip. Apart from you, Yuzuki and occasionally Pretty Boy and Amber, when I have to. I generally don't associate with anyone."

"Okay... so who's Yuzuki?" I blink at him.

_'Oh shit, I haven't even told Lys about her yet.'_

"She's the transfer student from Japan."

He looks confused for a brief moment but recognition sets in soon after.

"Oh, that girl with the white hair and the scar right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. She's the one I've been hanging out with lately when I'm not with you."

"I see... so you're interested in her?" He smirks at me. I fold my arms and look in the opposite direction.

"Now what gives you that idea? I've never once said anything that could be viewed as being, as you would say, 'interested'."

He moves to sit down in a nearby chair. "As you said, you've been spending time with her lately right? Well you never spend time with anyone apart from me and your dog Demon. And since she's a girl, the only logical explanation for this sudden social behaviour is because you have an interest in her."

_'Argh, damn he's good. He knows me way to much.'_

"Well since you haven't got a comeback I take it my hypothesis is correct. I'd like to meet this girl that has somehow managed to capture you're heart."

"What? Why would you want to meet her?" He's up to something.

"I'm simply just curious that's all." While his face is calm, a flicker of mischief dances though his heterochromia eyes.

I smirk at his mistake. "Funny that... your eyes tell a different story." I move closer to him. "Lysander. What are you really planning?"

"Well, since I've been caught out I suppose there's no point in holding back." He pauses for a moment. "Tell me Castiel, what are your plans for the Spring Ball?"

I furrow my eyebrows. "The same thing I do every year. Avoiding it."

Lys chuckles at me. "Not this year my friend... This year you're going to the Spring Ball."

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

"Iris quit poking me damn it." She continues to poke me in the side, effectively annoying the crap out of me.

"Well come on, we need to find Castiel."

"Jeez, calm down will you? You're like a child."

She stops skipping around and waits for me to catch up. "Well can you blame me? This is a rare opportunity to see Castiel up close. Not that I'm going to try and steal him from you but the guy is pretty cute."

I shake my head at her. "You're unbelievable, how many guys do you like?"

She ponders for a moment before replying. "Well there's Nathaniel, Jade, Dajan, Lysander and his older brother Leigh, that Aussie guy Dakota as well as Castiel. But he's hard to get to so I don't think you're going to have any competition for him."

_'So she pretty much has a thing for everyone except Ken.'_

"Whatever, let's just go and this over with. The faster we find him the better." I hear Iris giggle in the background.

"You don't have to find him. Here he comes now... and with Lysander in tow too? Yay, my day just got better." I turn around and spot them walking over to us. I watch the other person with him who I assume is Lysander for Iris's previous comment. He has short, silver hair and heterochromia eyes, the left being green and the right is yellow. I notice that his outfit was designed in a Victorian fashion.

_'Well that's different.'_

They stop a few feet away and I felt Iris gently nudge me forward. "Um hey Castiel... who's your... who's friend?" I ask shyly, not at all enjoying the look I get from Lysander.

"Ah, this is Lysander." He raises a hand towards him. "Lysander, this is Yuzuki."

Lysander steps a little closer and bows slightly. "Greetings Yuzuki, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard quite a bit about you from Castiel." Upon hearing this Castiel groans and mutters something to Lysander.

I return his bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you too Lysander, although I haven't heard anything about you from Castiel."

Castiel's face turn slightly red from embarrassment, Lysander laughs a little. Once again I feel Iris nudge me again, earning a frown from me.

"So um... Castiel." He turns his attention to me. "I... was wondering if you'd... um." I stop mid sentence, my face heating up. "I was wondering if you'd... like to go with me to the Spring Ball."

I hear him gasp in relief, I look up to see a slight smirk on his face.

"Whew, that's a relief." I don't get it, what was a relief?

"I, uh, I actually came over here to ask if you wanted to go me but I guess you beat me to it. Either way, I accept your invitation." He chuckles a little, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

_'He wanted to ask me? Really? _

"So I'll pick you up from your place?" He asks. I go to reply but was cut off by Iris.

"Oh she's actually going to be at my house, so you and Lysander can come get us from there."

Castiel crosses his arms with a confused expression. "Lysander? Care to explain?"

"Iris may have asked me to ball about a week ago." He says rather calmly.

"Think of it as a double date. Oh we could have a sleep over afterwards, wouldn't that be fun?"

Lysander shakes his head. "I'm not to sure if that would be appropriate Iris."

"Aw why not? There's nothing wrong with a sleep over, we could all crash at my house. We've got plenty of room. Oh I should invite Melody and Jade, and..."

As Iris goes through the list of people she should invite to her 'sleep over after party', we silently sneak off during her ramble.

"Why do I get a feeling this is going to end well?" I groan.

Both Castiel and Lysander nod in agreement.

"I don't think she understands that teenagers having sleep over party is never a good idea."

Castiel chuckles. "If we aren't drunk then things should be okay."

"Hmm, that is true. At least then the chances of Castiel trying something..."

"Alright we get the idea Lysander." I quickly interrupt, not wanting to hear or know the rest of his sentence.

He raises his hands in defence. "I was just going to mention.."

"You don't need to finish it Lys." Castiel growls.

"But you do..."

The two start bickering, Lysander implying rather suggestive things about Castiel's motives. Castiel himself attempting to shut him up.

_'Oh yeah. This dance is definitely going to be interesting."_

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Aw Castiel and Yuzuki going to the Spring Ball. A sleepover party afterwards, wonder what could happen there? ;)**

**I'd also like to say thanks for reading, I've enjoyed writing it so hope you guys out there had fun reading it.**


	6. Prelude To Waltz

**Author Note:**

**Hello and welcome back all you lovely readers :)**

**Chapter six is here, this one you see from FIVE different POV's, should be interesting.**

**No we're not quit at the ball just yet, this is just events before it. **

**You probably hate me now but I gotta build suspense somehow :P**

**Hope you guys like it.**

Chapter Six: Prelude To Waltz

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

"Yuzuki, wait up!" I turn around to find Nathaniel chasing after me. Waiting for him to catch up, I give him a small wave he cheerfully returns.

"Hey Yuzuki can I ask you a huge favour? We're a little short handed in setting up the gym for the Spring Ball tonight. Would you mind helping out? I can excuse you from your classes."

A chance to skip class, that's more than enough motivation for me.

"Sure thing. Let me just put my books away and I'll meet you there."

"Oh thank you so much Yuzuki. You're a life saver."

He quickly says goodbye and jogs back towards the gym. I move to put my things away and head over to the gym. Once inside the place is total chaos. Balloons float around the room, streamers all tangled together and one girl tripped on some power chords, sending her flying across the room. Giggling at her misfortune, I ease my way through the maze of health hazards over to Nathaniel.

Tapping him on the shoulder to gain his attention, he turns to face me with a smile.

"So Mr President. What would you like me to do?" He laughs a little and quickly replies.

"Well as you can see I need a lot done." Waving a hand to the chaotic room. "Since I know you're not as clumsy as the others, you can help out with setting the stage and music equipment. Ask Lysander for more."

I nod, quickly heading towards the stage to find Lysander. After looking around I spot him behind a speaker and call out to him.

"Hello Yuzuki. What brings you here?"

"Mr President told me you guys needed help setting up and to come see you about it."

He casts a quick glance at Nathaniel, an eyebrow raised.

"Well we need to move these speakers and set the lights up. I'd get one of the others to do but they're either weak to move them or afraid of heights." I laugh at his comment and give him a thumbs up.

"Well it's a good thing I'm here then. I'll handle them, you go back to being bossman." Lysander shakes his head and then directs me to where I need to go and what I need to set up.

Moving over to the equipment I grab the lights and ladder. Setting the ladder up, I climb up it and proceed to hang the lights, making sure they won't fall onto the band later on. Once I'm done I put the ladder away and move on to the speakers, giving it a small push to see how heavy it is.

_'Ha, it's not that heavy. This'll be easy.'_

* * *

**Lysander POV**

While giving out instructions to the others I keep a close watch on Yuzuki out of the corner of my eye. She quickly moves to set the lights up, reaching up to do so.

_'She's got quite the figure. No wonder Castiel likes her, always did like the curvy ones.'_ Snickering at the thought I watch her finish setting up the lights in record time. Most people taking ages as they can't hold them up long enough and needing a second person.

She moves over to the speakers, pushing it a little to test its weight.

_'I should go help her. There's no way she'll be able to move that by herself, especially when the others couldn't do it.'_ As I move to help her, a smirk appears on her face. She bends her knees and begins to lift the speaker, holding it high off the floor and moves to put it in it's place.

_'What? Impossible!. She actually managed to lift that off the ground. Even I can't do that, yet she makes it look so easy.'_

Standing there, I stare at her in disbelief. Mind racing as to how she managed to lift it. While lost in my thoughts, I felt a hand slap me in the back. Whipping around to see how dared to touch me, my vision is filled with the sight of a familiar red head.

"Spacing out much Lysander. I was calling to you from across the room and you completely ignored me." Castiel pouting a little at my absent mindedness.

"Oh I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something." He raises an eyebrow, silently asking as to what it was I was thinking about. I shake my head and lean closer to him.

"It's not something I want to discuss here. I'll talk to you about it later."

He shrugs his shoulders and turns to look at Yuzuki, a frown settinling on his lips. Looking over to see what he was frowning at, I notice Yuzuki talking to Nathaniel.

They both start laughing, Yuzuki giving him a gentle punch.

_'Ah it seems they both want Yuzuki. Not that I can blame them, she is very pretty and isn't as uptight as other girls. She just lives each day as it passes, never missing a moment.'_

Casting a glance at Castiel I could tell he was jealous. While he'd never admit it, he really does care about Yuzuki. For him, seeing her so happy with Nathaniel must really hurt.

Slinging an arm around Castiel, I quickly steer him out of the gym. Receiving protests and a few curses from him in the process.

"Now there's no reason to be like that, you'll get your turn. After all, you're Yuzuki's date, not Nathaniel."

He stops struggling, a slight blush forming.

"Come on, let's get you back home. I have a lot of work to do. Making you into a handsome prince is no easy task."

After hearing my comment, he punches me in the arm and stomps off. Rubbing my arm I quickly chase after him, laughing at his childish response.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

"Okay guys, that's it. You can all go home now." I call out to the students. Hearing a collective groan of relief, everyone begins moving out of the gym. I spot Yuzuki in the crowd and follow her outside.

"Yuzuki." She looks back at me and smiles gently.

"What's up Mr President? You didn't forget anything did you?" She giggles.

"No, ever thought I just might want to talk to you?"

She raises her hands in mock defence, holding back a laugh. "I'm so sorry. Didn't mean to offend you."

"It's alright, but I did want to ask you something." She looks at me, patiently waiting for my question.

"Look I... know this is really short notice... but I was wondering if wanted to go with me to the ball tonight?"

Her shoulders drop a little, a sad expression forms in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Nathaniel, but... I already have a date." I shuffle on my feet a little.

"Oh no that's okay. It's my fault for asking so late." I chuckle, but I could see she noticed the disappointment in it. Laying a hand on my arm she starts to speak.

"I really am sorry... maybe we could go to the next dance together?"

I lighten up a little from her gesture.

"Yeah, sure. I'd like that." A genuine smile of happiness on my lips.

"Okay then... Well I better head off and get ready. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then." She suddenly surprises me with a quick hug before dashing off to the carpark, waving to Iris.

_'Well that was awkward.'_

* * *

**Iris POV**

"Yuzuki stop moving. You'll mess up my work." I scold her.

"Sorry but it hurts when you pull my hair out." She quickly shoots back. Picking up the curling rod, I continue putting curls into her ridiculously long hair. When I finish, I tie some of her hair back and make a small mound, leaving the rest hang loosely. I check her fringe, making sure it was evenly cut and framing her face right.

"Jeez Yuzuki. Why do you have your hair so damn long? Ever heard of a hair cut?" Frowning at me she looks back at the mirror.

"It's different. I've never had my hair curled before." She says so quietly I almost miss it.

"Well I think curls look good on you. And I'm sure Castiel would agree." Nudging her, I give her a sly wink and she begins to blush.

I move over to my draws and pull out my make up bag, Yuzuki looking at me oddly.

"Now it's time for make-up. I'll let you get changed into your dress first so I can match it." Nodding she goes to change in another room. I quickly do the same, changing into my strapless, black and ice blue dress that reaches down to the floor with crystal embroidery just above my waist. Using foundations to even out my skin tone, I put on mascara and some eyeliner. I use a light blue eye shadow and put a little bit of pink lipstick.

As Yuzuki comes back in I sit her down and observe her face.

"Damn your skin is so perfect I don't even need to put any foundation on." I pause for a moment and look at her scar.

"Although I could try to cover up your scar." As I move to try and cover it she viciously slaps my hand away before I could start.

"Leave it." She says angrily. "I don't want it covered. It's a part of me and I shouldn't have to hide it just because some people think it looks unattractive."

Mumbling an apology, I set about matching colours. I decide to use silver and light purple for eyeshadow, and put a little bit of mascara on. Using the same lipstick, I put it on her lips, also applying a layer of gloss to give it some shine. Standing back, I admire my work. The purple is almost the same shade as her eyes and the glossy lips make her look adorable.

_'Castiel better thank me for this.'_ I smirk.

A few moments later I hear a car park out the front, peeking my head around the curtains I see Castiel and Lysander walking up the driveway.

"Moment of truth sweetie. Prince Charming has arrived to take you to the ball." I tease.

"Oh shut up Iris." She slapping me in the arm.

_'For someone as pretty and as caring as her, she sure is violent sometimes.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

Arriving back at my house, Lysander casually walks in and waltzes up the stairs to my room. I follow him up and he starts attacking my wardrobe, picking out items and holding them up against me. He does this for a while, finally settling on a black tuxedo with a red vest and bowtie. Tossing the items of clothing he tells me to get changed as he walks out of the room. Lazily, I change into them, trying to remember the last time I wore it.

Once changed I go to find Lysander, who had already changed.

_'Typical Lys, always in a time warp.'_

Dressed in a blue military inspired outfit with black knee high boots and gold embroidery, looking rather eccentric in my opinion.

"I see you have changed." He states.

"Well it's kind of obvious." I say dryly. Glancing at the clock to check the time Lys begins talking again.

"There's plenty of time before the ball Castiel so stop worrying." He motions for me to sit down, as he moves to do so as well. We stare at each other for moment, an awkward silence between us.

"Castiel... I want to ask you about Yuzuki."

_'Wait, why does he want to talk about her? I thought he liked her.'_

"Have you seen any... unusual behaviour or actions from her?" His face expressionless, studies me for a moment.

"What do you mean by unusual Lys?" I ask.

He stays silent for a moment.

"Well today she helped me in setting up the stage. One of the tasks I asked her to do was to move the speakers, now I know that was stupid since she's girl but I didn't really think about it at the time." Closing my mouth after he cut off my protest I continue to listen.

"You see, as she was going to move it I was coming over to help her. Before I reached her, she had already lifted it off the ground like it was nothing. Now you and I both know as to how heavy those things are, so when Yuzuki picked it up with such ease I was quite surprised. I wanted to ask if you knew anything about this."

Taking in this new information I think back to the fight I had with Nathaniel, deciding to tell Lys the truth about what really happened.

"Remember the bruises I had on my arm from the fight with Nathaniel?" He nods.

"Well, those bruises weren't from him... they were actually from Yuzuki. She came out of no where and stopped me from punching him."

Looking back at Lys he stares at me with bewilderment.

"Are you serious?" He gaps at me.

"Dead serious, but that's not all. On her first day I found her on the roof but even to this day I can't figure out how she did since I'm the only one apart from the teachers to have a key. I ask her how she got up there and just said that she climbed it."

'What? Scale a five story building? That's kind of pushing it Castiel." He says doubtfully.

"I know but I can tell she's not like other people. She's different, hell I took her to cafe one time and she'd never even had chocolate before."

Lys regards my comment, eyebrows raised before settling back down.

"And you still love her? Even though she's so different and you know nothing about her past?"

Taken aback by his sudden question, my mind fails to respond. Staring at the floor I try to answer it.

"Even though she's different... I don't really mind. Everyone's different in their own way. I don't need to know her past, that's her business. If she wants to tell me I'll listen but... I'm going to force it from her. I don't need to know that to love her... because all that matter is the present, not the past."

Suddenly I hear Lys burst out into laughter, tears starting to form at the corner of his eye.

_'Why the hell is he laughing?! This is serious!'_

"Wow Castiel." He laughs. "Who knew you'd ever say something like that... You really do love her."

"Of course I do idiot. I just said it a few minutes ago." His reaction grating on my nerves.

Standing up I grab my keys and over to the front door.

"Come on moron, let's go get the girls." Spinning the keys around my finger. We head out to my car and get in. I start the engine and drive to Iris's house. Parking in the driveway I turn the engine off, Lys still giggling at me.

"Will you stop it? It's not that funny." Smacking the back of his head.

"Aw but I've seen you be so romantic Prince Charming." He jumps out of the car before I could hit him again and runs to the door, ringing the doorbell. Following him to the door, it suddenly swings open, Lys being tackled by a flying Iris and barely catching his footing.

"Smooth Lys, real smooth." I snicker at his futile attempts to detach Iris.

"They look like they're having fun." A voice says from behind me. Spinning around I find Yuzuki smiling at me, I quickly take in her appearance. A short, strapless lilac dress with a white bow at the back and silver heels. Her hair, done in curls that frame her face perfectly.

_'Damn Iris did a good job. Never thought I'd see Yuzuki with curls. Or being this cute.'_

She clears her throat a little and blushes slightly.

"Um... do I... do I look okay?" She quietly asks.

"Okay?" I repeat. "Hell you look amazing Yuzuki." I move closer, taking her hand in mine.

"Really?" I look her in the eye. Violet eyes shining with happiness.

"Would I ever lie?" A smirk creeping up on me.

She giggles a little. "Well you never know."

"HEY LOVEBIRDS!" Iris screeches. "Hurry up, we got a ball to get to. You can be all lovey dovey after the dance!"

The two of us begin to blush at Iris's comment. Leading Yuzuki to my car I open the door for her, closing it behind her. Moving around to the drivers seat I start the car again, quickly backing up and head back the way we came towards the school.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**And off we go to the ball! :D**

**Hopefully my next chapter will make up for stealing the ball away from you this time. (So sorry XxAssassin23N7x)**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Tell me what you liked/hated/found annoying, blah blah blah you get the idea :3**


	7. Waltz For The Moon

**Author Note:**

**IT'S THE SPRING BALL! YAY! :D**

**Are you guys excited as much as I am?**

**Ah I loved this chapter, Castiel is so fluffy :P**

**Okay so I put a song in here, it's called _Count On You by Big Time Rush feat. Jordan Sparks._**

**You may want to look it up so you know how it goes if you haven't heard it ;)**

**I hope you enjoy it! :)**

Chapter Seven: Waltz For The Moon

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

Arriving at school I step out of the car, Iris springs out of the car with Lysander in tow, he send us a silent plea of help before disappearing into the gym. I giggle at his situation and feel a hand gently take mine.

"Shall we go in?" Castiel asks, his signature smirk plastered on his face. Squeezing his hand a little in response we move towards the gym, Castiel opening the door for me. Immediately I'm blinded by flashing lights and loud noises, my hand instinctively snaps to my upper thigh, grasping the switchblade strapped there. Realising where I was, I slowly let go of it, scanning the room and noting all the possible exits out of sheer habit.

_'Calm down, it's just a dance, a party. Nothing's going to happen.'_

Taking a deep breath I look around once more. People are dancing on the floor or socializing on the benches, girls showing off their dresses and sizing each other up. Glaring daggers at any girl who got too close to their date.

_'I didn't think a dance would be so... territorial. Girls can be pretty scary.'_

"Yuzuki!" Someone screeches my name over the music and voices, not entirely surprised to see Iris in amongst a group, bouncing up and down to get my attention. Gently tugging on Castiel's sleeve, I point in Iris's direction and make our way over to her.

Castiel goes to talk to Lysander and some other guy with black hair, while drags me away from the others.

"So what do you think so far? Are you enjoying yourself? Do you want some punch? What did Castiel..." She blabbers on, throwing one question after another at me, barely giving me a chance to respond.

"Whoa slow down Iris, you'll die from asphyxiation if you don't breathe." She stops, an odd look in her eyes before taking a deep breath.

"Heh sorry, guess I got a little carried away. But anyway, I was going to ask what Castiel said to you earlier, you know when we were still at my place."

"Oh that? Well he said that... I looked amazing." I blush furiously, remembering how he close he was to me at the time.

"Aw that's so adorable! Although he could have said a different way, a more romantic way like, _'you're so beautiful, it takes my breath away'._ But then again, this is Castiel we're talking about." She says. Not really being the most experienced person in these situations, I couldn't really see the problem. To me he had been truly honest as he said it, which was good enough for me.

"Oh I almost forgot! I need to introduce to the others, they're coming over tonight too, so I want you to get to know them a little. That way you won't feel so out of place." Grabbing my hand she drags me into the crowd, introducing them one by one. There was Melody, Kim, Peggy, Violette, Rosalya, Capucine, Jade, Leigh who turned out to be Lysander's older brother and Dakota.

_'She's going to have all these people at her house? This is quite a few people, are we all going to fit?'_

"You're probably wondering how were all going to fit huh? Don't worry, I got it all covered. I also invited Nathaniel too." She says cheerfully.

"Nathaniel's coming too? Are you sure that's a good idea? You know how much Nathaniel and Castiel hate each other right?" I give her a scolding look, which was having no effect on the idiotic grin of hers.

"Don't worry about it. If they start fighting I'll just get you to break it up."

Blinking at her, I try to make sense of what she meant.

"Why am I the peace maker? It's your house, therefore it's your responsibility." I pout.

"Because you're my friend and you love me. I'm sure you could break them up peacefully. You have managed to get close to Castiel and I don't think anyone has before you. You're special Yuzuki, they'll listen to you." She says.

_'Mainly because Castiel already knows I'm much stronger than him and could easily kick his ass.'_

Iris slings an arm around my shoulder, guiding me over to the punch to get a drink, talking non-stop in my ear about her after party.

_'This is going to be a long night. Not that I mind.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

"So are you going to ask Yuzuki to dance or not?" Giving Lys a glare, I fold my arms and smirk at him.

"Are you going to ask Iris to dance?" I ask. He shuffles uncomfortably at my comment, knowing full well why.

"Well as much as I like Iris, she can be... a handful sometimes. But if you need encouragement I'll gladly do it."

Before I could respond, he saunters over to Iris and Yuzuki, bowing a little while holding his hand out to Iris. She squeaks in joy, quickly snatching his hand and drags him onto the dancefloor, leaving Yuzuki behind. Quickly checking my appearance and making sure everything was in place, I walk over to Yuzuki, clearing my throat to get her attention. She turns around, giving me a gentle smile, eyes glittering in the light.

"Hey." I say quietly. "Um, would you... like to dance with me?" I ask with a smile.

She suddenly blushes and looks at he floor, shuffling a little.

"Uh, I um... I don't... ah know." She stutters, fumbling for words. "I mean... I'd like to but..."

I lift her face up, looking her in the eye. "But?" I repeat.

"I... I don't know... how to dance." Smiling at her shyness, I take her hands into mine and lead her to the floor, ignoring her small protests.

Pulling her close I wrap an arm around her waist, holding her hand with the other, leaning closer to her ear.

"It's okay, you don't need to be embarrassed." I whisper. "Just follow my lead." Taking small, slow steps, she starts to follow, holding tightly onto me, as if she's afraid to let go.

_**'Now I'm about to give you my heart  
But remember this one thing  
I've never been in love before  
So you gotta go easy on me**_

_**I heard love is dangerous  
Once you fall you never get enough  
But the thought of you leaving  
Ain't so easy for me'**_

"See? You're not so bad, just takes practice." I chuckle. We continue to dance, spinning her around and taking her back into my arms.

_**'Don't hurt me**_  
_**Desert me**_  
_**Don't give up on me**_  
_**What would I wanna do that for?'**_

_**Don't use me**_

_**Take advantage of me  
Make me sorry I ever counted on you  
1,2,3,4 to 5 baby, I'm counting on you'**_

Whispering words of encouragement to her she starts to get more confident, taking faster and longer steps.

_**'Understand I've been here before, thought I found someone I thought I finally could adore**_  
_**But you failed my test, got to know her better so I wasn't the only one**_  
_**But I will end up put my trust you, baby you could put your trust in me**_  
_**Just like a count to 3 you can count on me and your never gonna see**_  
_**No numbers in my pocket.**_  
_**Anything I'm doing girl**_

_**I'**__**ll drop it for you**_

_**Cuz you're the one I'm giving my heart to but I gotta be the only one'**_

I lift her in the air and she squeaks in surprise, giggling as I put her back down.

_**'Don't hurt me**_  
_**Desert me**_  
_**Don't give up on me**_  
_**What would I wanna do that for?**_  
_**Don't use me**_  
_**Take advantage of me**_  
_**Make me sorry I ever counted in you**_  
_**1,2,3,4 to 5 baby I'm counting on you'**_

Smiling and laughing, her worries disappearing with every step, everything fading out but us and the music.

_**'I really hope you understand**_  
_**That if you wanna take my hand**_  
_**You should put yours over my heart**_  
_**I promise to be careful from the start**_  
_**I trust in you with love in me**_  
_**Very very carefully**_  
_**Never been so vulnerable**_  
_**Baby I'll make you comfortable'**_

She leans closer, wrapping her arms around me. I do the same, gently placing a kiss on her forehead. Smiling to myself.

_**'1234 to 5 (yeah)**_  
_**Baby I'm counting in you (oh)**_  
_**1234 to 5 (why would I want to do that hey yeah)**_  
_**1234 to 5 baby I'm counting on you**_  
_**1234 to 5**_  
_**No I'm about to give you my heart**_  
_**So remember this one thing**_  
_**I've never been in love before**_  
_**Yea you gotta go easy on me.'**_

_'So this is what love feels like.'_

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

Sitting at the back of the benches, I watch Yuzuki and Castiel dance. Seeing her shyness in the beginning, slowly gaining confidence.

_'So, she chose Castiel after all.'_

Shaking the thought from my head, I quickly stand up and head towards the stage.

_'Don't get upset Nathaniel, as long as she's happy it's okay right? If she wants Castiel then it's okay. Just be happy for her.'_

"Oh Nathaniel." Sighing, I stop and turn around to face Amber.

"What is it Amber? I'm a little busy right now." I say irritably, already knowing what her question is.

She smiles, trying to work her charms on me. "You're going to announce the three most popular couples right? I just wanted to know who was crowned Queen that's all."

Rubbing my temple and sigh at the question. "Amber you ask me every year and every time I say no. You can wait with everyone else." I spin around on my heel and walk to the stage, grabbing the envelopes with the winners. Every year we have the three best couples receive a title of either Duke & Duchess, Prince & Princess or King & Queen, of course Amber always has to be Queen.

Climbing the stairs, I move over to the microphone on stage and clear my throat. Everyone's attention soon turns to me and silence fills the room.

"Hello everyone, as I'm sure you know it's time to announce the three most popular couples of the 34th Annual Spring Ball." A murmur of excitement passes through the room, quickly dying down to allow me to announce the winners.

Taking out the first envelope I scan it's contents. "In third place, with the title of Duke & Duchess, goes to... Dakota and Melody!" As people clap in approvement, the couple make their way to the stage. I hand them a bouquet of flowers and motion for them to step aside. Opening the second envelope, I hold back a small snicker.

"In second place, with the title of Prince & Princess, goes to... Lysander and Iris!" Iris shrieks in happiness and flies up the stairs to claim her tiara, Lysander attempting to catch up. I hand him his crown and he steps to the side, taking Iris with him. I open the final envelope, almost bursting out in laughter but hold it back with all my might.

_'Amber's going to freak.' _I snicker.

"In first place, with the title of King & Queen, of the 34th Annual Spring Ball, goes to..."

I pause, building up the suspense, spotting the winners I give them a small smile.

"Castiel and Yuzuki!" A loud cheer fills the room as they to make their way to the stage. I hand Castiel his crown, trying not to look him in the eye and he quickly moves away. As Yuzuki approaches me, a slight blush tints her cheeks. Giving her a warm smile, I gently place the crown on her head, taking care not to mess her hair up. She moves to stand next to Castiel, smiling up at him. A small pain forms in my chest.

_'Stop it Nathaniel, it's not like you'll never see her again. You just won't be able to share your feelings with her.'_

Turning to face the crowd I speak into the microphone again.

"Let's have a round of applause for our winners!"

The room fills with cheering and a few wolf whistles, the winners waving back at the crowd. As they move to step off I cast a glance at Yuzuki, watching her be led out of the gym by Castiel.

_'It's okay, if can't be the one for her, then I'll be the one support her.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

I quickly take Yuzuki's hand and lead her out of the gym, heading over to a tree. I stop and let go her hand, breathing in the cool night air.

"Wow, that was different. I almost fainted when we were announced as King & Queen." She says breathlessly.

I turn and look at her. "Why'd you almost faint?" Most girls like it when they get these titles, it adds to their overrated vanity.

"Well... it was just surprising. Not that it's a bad thing, I just never thought I'd ever get the title of Queen or anything." She laughs.

"Well why not? I think you deserve it, you're way more beautiful than those other girls." She stops laughing, surprise glitters in her eyes.

"You think I'm beautiful?" She asks, causing my entire face to turn red.

"Well, I um... of course I uh, think you're beautiful. And I'm not meaning just your looks either, you're a really nice person and you're honest. That's what I like about you. You're looks are just a bonus." Smirking, I bring her closer to me, her head pressed against my chest.

"You really mean it." She mumbles in my chest.

I stroke her soft, curly hair. "I wouldn't lie about something like that, not to you."

"Why? Why would you say something like that." Doubt heavy in her voice, I sigh at her uncertainty.

"Well... it's because I love you." I say calmly. Feeling her body go ridged she speaks up.

"You don't really mean it, no one ever does. Not someone broken like me." Her voice slightly shaky, kept under control from what seems like years of practice.

_'Someone broken like you? Idiot. You're not broken, not to me.'_

"Since you don't believe me... I'll just have to prove it." I smirk.

Lifting her face up, I lean in slowly, gently pressing my lips against hers. At first she was tense and unresponsive but soon relaxed, kissing me back with innocent tenderness. Suddenly I hear the familiar sound of a camera, snapping my head towards the sound I spot Iris and Lys with a camera.

"Damn it Iris!" I yell.

"Oh shit he's seen us, run Lys!" They quickly bolt around the corner in an attempt to run away.

As I go to chase after them, a hand pulls me back.

"Let them go." Yuzuki says. "You can get them back later." She leans forward and kisses me again, filled with the same tenderness as before. She then pulls back and rests her head on my chest, hugging me tightly.

"I love you too Castiel." I blush at her confession but I was filled with happiness at the same time. Feeling her shiver slightly, I hold her closer to me to keep her warm. We stand there for a while, enjoying the quiet night, underneath a beautiful full moon.

_'I'm never letting you go now.'_

* * *

**Author Note:**

**OH SO CUTEEEEEE! No idea how much I loved this chapter :3**

**I hope this makes up for last time, I felt so evil stealing this cuteness from you.**

**And PLEASE, for the love of God, REVIEW! I really want to know what you guys thought of this chapter :D**


	8. Who's The King?

**Author Note:**

**We're back at Iris's house and ready to play some games!**

**I do hope you enjoy this chapter as I enjoy writing it for you guys :)**

**Don't forget to review.**

Chapter Eight: Who's The King?

* * *

**Iris POV**

"Kyaaa, this photo is sooo cute! Oh my God you two are so made for each other." I say to Yuzuki and Castiel, gaining blushes from both of them. As Castiel drives us back to my house for the party, my leg bounces up and down in excitement.

"Calm down will you? It's good to be excited but you take it to a whole new level." Lysander smiles at me. "One might also think that you have plotted something." Grinning at him, I give him a flirty wink and he chuckles a little.

"Well you never know. I may have something planned." I let out an evil cackle, Yuzuki and Lysander glance at me with a slightly worried look.

"Mwahahaha! I have planned a night of wonderful entertainment and it doesn't even include alcohol. Can't have Castiel doing anything to a drunken Yuzuki." I slyly smile in his direction.

"Why the fuck do you guys always think I'm going to do something damn it? I'm not going to touch her in way unless she's comfortable." He growls, irritation thick in his low voice.

Yuzuki turns around and faces me. "If anything I think we should be more worried about you doing something to Lysander. You're completely sober yet you literally throw yourself at him." All three of them snicker at me, a pout makes it way onto my lips.

"Well how could you not? Look at him, he's gorgeous. I'd definitely have his babies and I'm not even a fan of kids. That my friend is dedication." I counter.

Castiel snickers some more. "More like creepy as all hell more like it." I smack him on the arm and he growls at me, saying I shouldn't distract him while driving. After a few minutes we arrive back at my house, I clamber over Yuzuki ignoring her complaints and run to the door to unlock it. Throwing the door open, I switch the lights on and quickly start setting up, playing music and bringing out food and drinks.

Everyone eventually files in, flopping down into the huge leather couches. I giggle and walk out with a bottle and a few sticks, each numbered and one having a crown on it.

"Who's up for some games?" I say, earning a murmur of excitement.

Peggy speaks up over everyone. "What are we going to play?" She asks. I laugh and stand next to her.

"Whatever you guys want." I say. "How about we start with 'Have You Ever'. That way Yuzuki can get to know everyone since she's still pretty new." Everyone nods in agreement, Yuzuki hides behind Castiel a little.

"So Yuzuki, have you played this game before?" She shakes her head. "It's pretty simple. Basically one person starts of asking 'Have You Ever' and says something they may have done, like 'Have you ever been overseas?'. Now in this game the person who asks the question spins the bottle and whoever it lands on has to answer yes or no. Do you understand?" She nods a little.

"Okay then. I'll go first! Everyone get into a circle please." The group shuffles around to form a circle and I spin the bottle. As it slows down, it come to a stop on Dakota. "Ah ha! Dakota. Have you ever been pulled over by the police?"

He starts laughing. "Ha all the time Iris." He says grinning. He takes the bottle and gives it a spin, landing on Violette. "Right, Violette. Have you ever... Toilet papered someone's house?" She blushes a little and moves a little. "Yes. When I was really little." The whole room starts to laugh, imagining a little Violette toilet papering some poor old lady's house.

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

We continue to laugh as we play 'Have You Ever.' Questions either getting very common or extremely obscure and interesting, these one's generally coming from Dakota. While we play I watch Yuzuki, her smile wide and bright, even though most of the questions she's asked are answered with a no. There are so many things she's never done before, simple things that many teenagers do on a regular basis. She's never been to karaoke, ice skating, gone to a circus or even prank called anyone which surprised everyone including Castiel.

Once again, Dakota spins the bottle, watching it land on Yuzuki we all turn our attention to her. "Ah Yuzuki okay, um... Have you ever... been skydiving?" We all begin to glare at him. If she hasn't done something simple like ice skating what are the chances the she's been skydiving? Idiot.

She suddenly begins to smile. "Yes! I have, we used to do it all the time back home!" We all stare at her, dumbfounded at her comment.

"Wait what?" I quickly interject. "You've never been ice skating but you've skydived before? And what do you mean that you used to do it all the time back home?" The room is silent, waiting for her reply.

"Oh well, I uh... I used to be in a... a military academy. It was uhm... part of the training to know how to skydive." She says quietly.

_'A military academy? Is that why she's covered in scars? Because of rigorous training in the military arts?'_ I let her comment sink in and then hearing Dakota speak up again.

"Whoa really? That's AWESOME! Hey Castiel, you got yourself a pretty cool girlfriend." He says, earning a rather pissed off look from Castiel, it practically screaming 'stay away'. The room becomes a little tense at the sudden male rivalry.

_'I really didn't see this coming. Why would she be enrolled in a military academy? She doesn't look the type of person to join the army.'_

"Okay that's enough of that game!" Iris says cheerfully. "I was getting a little bored of it anyway. So how about we play 'Who's The King?' You all know how to play right?" A few people shook their heads, not surprisingly Yuzuki was one of them.

"Okay, well you have a set of sticks numbered with one King. There should be one for each person to draw. Whoever draws the King can order around anyone they want by calling out their number, but make sure you don't show the King your card unless it's your number that's called." She says. "Oh and those who fail to follow orders get punished, just a word of warning." Iris smiles and starts counting out the sticks. Since their was fifteen of us, it meant there were fourteen numbers and one King.

"Everyone draw!" She calls out and we all move to draw.

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

_'Number 12 huh? I hope the King isn't too mean.' _I sit and wait for everyone to draw, waiting for the king to reveal themselves. I suddenly hear laughter coming from Kim.

"Haha! I'm the King! Okay, numbers 3, 5 and 11. Give me 30 push-ups!" She cackles. The unlucky numbers start to move to do their push ups. These were Dajan, Melody and Peggy. We return the sticks and draw a second time.

This time the King was Capucine. "Um, numbers 1, 8, 14 and 15. Get a partner and start waltzing.' Iris, Rosalya, Jade and Nathaniel get up and start to do the waltz. The rest of us laugh at their awkward steps in the small circle. Having to move out of their way so we wouldn't be stepped on, Kim ended up throwing pillows and wolf whistling at them.

Drawing over and over again, challenges getting funnier by the minute. Dajan had his nails painted, Kim had a moustache drawn on her face, Dakota bouncing around from the ice in his pants, Castiel wearing my tiara with a fluro pink feather boa, poor Leigh ended up being cling wrapped to a chair and Violette had to chug a carton of milk, almost throwing up from it.

I draw a stick and look at the number. As everyone had drawn, the King quickly sprang up off the floor. "Yay, I'm the King!" Shouted Peggy. "Number 7. Start stripping!" Hearing a groan, I look over at Lysander, holding up number 7.

"May I pass? I'd rather not expose myself in front of all these nice ladies and embarrass the other guys with my dazzling looks." He flicks his hair a little, making the scene more dramatic then it really was.

Peggy frowns. "That means you have to be punished." Lysander nods.

"I know, so punish me then." He says smugly.

Peggy reaches into the box with all the punishments and pulls out a piece of paper, quickly reading it.

"Well, looks like you're doing the cinnamon challenge." She says evilly. The room starts cheering and Iris moves to get the cinnamon. Leaning closer to Castiel, I ask him what the challenge is.

"Ah, basically he has to eat a teaspoon of straight cinnamon without spitting it out." He says, laughing at Lysander's face.

"Is that hard?" I ask quietly. Not seeing how it could be a punishment.

"Yes it's really hard. The cinnamon dries out the mouth making it really hard to swallow and since you're not allowed to drink anything with it, most people spit it back out." I look at him funny, wondering why teenagers do such strange things for fun.

As Iris gets the cinnamon ready, Lysander takes the spoon from her and quickly shoves the cinnamon in his mouth. At first everything seemed fine, until he spun around and ran into the kitchen, coughing it back up. The whole room follows him and burst out into laughter, tears streaking their faces from laughing so hard. Castiel goes over to him and smacks him on the back, trying to help him out but still laughing at him. As we return back into the lounge room, Lysander slowly comes back out.

"Never again, will I do the cinnamon challenge." He says weakly, still coughing a little. Iris calls out and we all draw. The King being Melody. "Numbers 6 and 13 have to... to kiss!" Looking down at the number in my hand my face starts to heat up. Number 6 was right there in my hand, hearing shuffling I could see Nathaniel standing up, number 13 in his hand. I stand but I don't move, hearing people whistle at us and Nathaniel turning red. Facing Melody, an expressionless mask on my face.

"I pass." I state plainly. A few people gasp in surprise and Nathaniel looks away.

"Oh, um, okay. Let me get you a challenge then." Melody says quietly. She puts her hand in and picks one out, her eyes widen at it.

"Oh please just kiss him Yuzuki, I don't want to give you this challenge." Pleading with everything she had I still say no.

"I don't want to. Because to me I'd feel like I was betraying Castiel if I did. I don't care what the challenge is, I'll do it anyway." Iris takes the piece of paper from Melody and reads it, sighing a little.

"Of all the challenges you had to get the Salt & Ice one." She says regretfully. The room goes quiet, confused looks on their faces, Castiel quickly jumps up.

"Why the fuck did you put that one in there? Do you know how painful doing that is?! People have gotten scars from doing that shit!" He screams at Iris who begins to shrink away. Pulling him away from her, I tell him to shut up.

"I said that I'll do it, if I get a scar then fine. It's not like I don't already have any." He goes quiet and I shake my head a little. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I'm stronger than you think." I let go of him and follow Iris, the rest of the group doing the same.

Iris grabs the salt and some ice cubes and then explains the challenge.

"So um. What you need to do is out salt on your arm and then place the ice cubes on top... from what I hear it supposedly starts to burn, like frostbite or something. So for you, we'll just do it for 60 seconds okay?" I nod my head and tell her to start, putting my left arm on the bench. Watching Castiel out of the corner of my eye, an angry frown forms. As Iris quickly puts the ice on top of the salt on my arm, she starts counting down with the others slowly joining in.

In the beginning it was okay, just a little cold. Then it got worse and started to sting a little. Keeping a blank expression I listen to the others countdown, hitting the 30 second mark.

_'It's not too bad. My enhancements help out with the pain so this is nothing really.'_

They near the end of the countdown, Castiel looking away from me. As soon as they finish counting they watch for my reaction. Calmly, I lift my arm off the bench and to the sink, dumping the salt and ice into it and turn around to show them my arm.

Dark purple squares where the ice was had formed on my arm, a few people groan as if they could feel the pain and shift uncomfortably. Shaking my head, I smirk a little.

"Don't like that guys, remember I did say I went to a military academy. This is nothing." They start to relax and we go back to playing, making sure none of the challenges involved anything painful.

The whole time Castiel remained quiet, a pained look in his eyes. Gently touching his arm, he slowly turns to look at me and I give him a smile. He strains to return it, I could tell he was bothered by my actions but I didn't want to kiss Nathaniel. Even though it was a game, all of it harmless fun, I still wouldn't do it. I never want to kiss anyone but Castiel, even though he looks and sounds just like SABER, he's different.

_'SABER was important to me... but he was more like a brother. We looked out for each other, shared our hopes and dreams. He was the only person who could ever truly understand me, as we had experienced it together.'_

Drawing another number I watch the others laugh.

_'Even if I were to tell Castiel the truth about me he'll never truly be able to understand... but that's okay. I'm happy with him, I've made new friends with him. Ever since I met him things began to change.'_

Standing up I follow the King's order. Smiling as I do.

_'I don't regret my actions. If these marks scar I'll wear them with pride, just like the one on my cheek... the only thing I have left of SABER.'_

Dakota whoops in triumph at drawing the King.

_'These scars will be my silent promise... my promise to you Castiel. Because no matter what happens I'll always fight to stay by your side, even if that means having to kill again I'll do it. You're the most precious thing to me in this world._

_Without you... I have nothing.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

The night drags on, into the early morning. As everyone shuffles away to their rooms, I slowly walk to mine and Yuzuki's.

_'Damn that Iris. She must really be planning on me doing something to put us in the same room.'_ I rub my temple a little, sleep threatening to take me right there and then. _'Maybe she has some kind of bet going on with Lys.'_

Pushing the door open I walk inside with Yuzuki following behind and closing the door. Sitting on the bed I stare at her, my gaze drops to left arm, dark purple marks running along it. Sadness wells up in my chest, I barely hold myself together.

"Why did you do it?" My voice shaking slightly. "Why did you do such a stupid challenge? All you had to do was kiss Pretty Boy. Wouldn't that be better then having to put up with the pain... and the scars." She sits next to me, wrapping her fine, scarred arms around me.

"Because to me I would have been betraying you." She whispers. "I don't want anyone else but you to kiss me. I don't care about the scars Castiel." Turning my face towards hers I gaze into her eyes.

"But still... you shouldn't have to hurt yourself like that." I say weakly.

"Hey, we were crowned King & Queen right? As your Queen I'll stand by you. Just as you'll stand by me." She chuckles quietly, moving closer to me. "Castiel. These scars are nothing for you to worry about. For me, they are my memories... and my promises. These scars on my arm... are my promise to you. No matter what happens, I'll always love you." Her voice is gentle and warm but somehow sad too.

"You say it like you don't know what will happen." I murmur.

"I don't know what will happen. I can't see the future but... I want my future to have you in it. Without you, I have nothing left. No home or family to return to. The truth is I came here to start over... I wanted a new life and I've found it... right here, beside you."

Her words ring in my ears, my mind barely able to comprehend it. She truly wants to be with me, wants a future with me. For a long time I didn't think I'd be able to find love. So many people pretend, only loving you because you have something they want. But Yuzuki, she just wants me, to stand by me, to be held in my arms. All she wants is my love, nothing more.

Looking at her again, she smiles, a smile that's full of genuine happiness. I lean closer, kissing her. Feeling her kiss back I cup her face in my hand, tilting her head back slightly and deepen our kiss, tongues caressing each other. A small moan fills the room, making me want more, I push her gently back onto the bed, pinning her underneath me. Our kiss deepens more, filled with passion and love. Hands wrap around my neck, pulling me closer, refusing to let go. Mind becoming blank to all but the person in front of me, breaking the kiss I softly kiss her neck, nipping it lightly. Soft moans of pleasure fill my ears, inciting me to go further.

I lean up from her, not wanting to take things too far before she's ready. Looking down at soft pale face, confusion in her violet eyes. Shaking my head, hoping she understands and kiss her forehead, laying down next to her, pulling her closer and she rests her head in the crook of my neck. As we lay there, hear her soft breathing and knowing she'd fallen asleep. I grab a blanket and cover her with it, resting my head on hers. Eventually falling into blissful sleep.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Kyaaaa cutesy sleepy moment for the win! :D**

**Castiel holding back from going to far? Ah it's crazy!**

**Heads up for next chapter, another flashback referring to events after Yuzuki/ARCADIA and SABER leave.**

**Reviews would be awesome guys, I do love them after all :)**

**Until next time! **


	9. Into The West Where The Sun Sets

**Author Note:**

**Alright, this chapter contains violence and swearing so for all of you guys who don't like it sorry but I ain't changing it, so this is a heads up.**

**Apart from that I hope you enjoy this chapter, you've no idea how hard it was to write but I'll explain the AFTER you read it :)**

**Also in this flashback there will be a POV from ARCADIA(Yuzuki) and LEYTE :D**

Chapter Nine: Into The West Where The Sun Sets

* * *

*Flashback*

**ARCADIA POV**

Five months have passed since we left GALAHAD. Everyday is a struggle for survival, soldiers and agents sent to eliminate us. It hurts, having to kill those who were once on your side. But we wanted to live, we wanted to be free and if that meant killing. We were more than ready to do it. Under the clear blue sky, we never stopped walking unless it was to rest. But even then it was brief, fugitives like us don't have the luxury of time.

SABER marched on ahead of me, I quickly chase after him cursing him for leaving me behind.

"Well you should stop daydreaming then." He chuckles. "If GALAHAD agents appeared I don't know if I'd be able to help." Smacking him on the arm I pout.

"I thought we're supposed to look out for each other? Or did you forget about that?" I smirk. He puts a hand through his hair and sighs.

"Don't worry ARCADIA, I'll always stand by your side, just as you will for me." He says. Pumping my fist into the air, I jump around around a little.

"Damn fucking straight I'll stand by you. You and me... we're brothers in arms, partners in crime. There ain't no way you're getting rid of me." I proclaim, shouting it to the world. As long as we had each other, the world could rot for all we cared.

Hours pass and the sun soon starts to set. Climbing up the trees, we tie ourselves to a branch so we don't fall off while we slept. Opening my canteen I take a sip of water, then pass it to SABER who mumbles a thanks. I rummage through my pack and grab two protein bars, tossing one to SABER and start eating. While we can go weeks without eating, we do it anyway. Some speculated back at HQ that the reason we stayed alive so long compared to other GE soldiers was because we ate, giving the body nutrients to quickly repair any damage we sustained in combat.

Leaning my head against the tree I watch the sun sink behind the horizon. SABER shuffles next to me.

"I'll take watch tonight. You go to sleep." He says. I almost slap him.

"Hell no! I'll take watch tonight and don't you dare argue with me. You've done it for the past four days, it's time you get some sleep." He shuts up, unsure of what to say. Rolling my eyes I pull him down onto my shoulder.

"You've been too nice to me, it's time I pay you back so just sleep okay." Nodding he closes his eyes and instantly falls into a deep sleep.

Sighing, I look down at his delicate features. For a guy he was rather effeminate, even with his lean build.

_'SABER, why do you always push yourself so much? We're in this together remember? You don't need to carry it all on your shoulders.'_

He mumbles in his sleep, face twisted in anger and pain. Knowing all too well what was happening I rub circles on his back and he starts to relax.

_'I know SABER, I have them too. I know how you feel.'_

While the scientists may not have know it, we stopped taking the drugs they gave us. The fake memories fading away and the real ones taking their place. We wanted to know the truth and all we found was pain, born in a test tube and altered so to become weapons. Our bodies remembering that pain.

SABER and I may look seventeen, have the physical body of seventeen year olds. We're actually only fourteen years old, having developed faster and our growth rate stopped before they took us out, to prevent us from dying of old age, to the point where we don't age at all. We'd been in service for over a decade and never once changed bar the scars that accumulated on our bodies of the years.

Gazing up into the night sky, a full moon rises to where the sun had once been. SABER always said that he liked the moon, something about it reminding him of me. When I asked him why he said it was because the moon was always changing, just like me. Going from shining brightly to disappearing completely, only to return and start all over again. At the time I had laughed, saying that if I was the moon, then he was the sun. The sun always being there to bring light to the earth, SABER was always there to brighten my life.

_'Our lives have always revolved around each other. Always chasing after each other, just like the sun and moon in the sky. Forever following the other.'_

The moon creeps across the starry sky, the sounds of the wind rustle through the trees. Everything was peaceful, but somehow too peaceful. Scanning the area for any kind of intruder, my eyes lock on to distant targets a few kilometres away from our position.

_'One thing those scientists got right was eye sight. If I didn't have the enhanced sight I would never have seen them coming until they were right underneath us.'_

I gently shake SABER awake, eyes groggy with sleep.

"Hmmm, what is it? Did you... *yawn*... see something." He asks sleepily, trying to get his bearings and would've fallen of the branch if it wasn't for the rope. I hold him steady as he tries to wake up.

"Yeah, there's a squad of around 20 heading this way. We better get moving so hurry up and wake up." He groans, but starts to untie the rope securing us to the tree. Grabbing our things, we jump through the trees instead of walking on the ground. Doing that would just leave tracks for them to follow so this was the best option.

Even if they were informed of how we operate they still wouldn't think to look in the trees for clues. That and they're generally lazy which is a good thing for us. After an hour of running we stop, checking behind us to see if anyone could have followed us, if they could keep up with our speed.

"I think we lost them." I say, turning to SABER. He stays quiet for a bit before shaking his head.

"I don't know about that. They're finding us way too quickly. It used to be that they'd only find us every few weeks but now it's every few days." He says. He does have a point, they have been finding us more often, even though we take precautions to cover out tracks. There's no way a bunch of infantrymen could spot our trail, but...

"You don't think someone from project CAPRI is on that team do you?" I ask.

"It's very likely. They'd be the only people to spot out tracks, even after covering it. It's part of their training, same as ours. GALAHAD is probably getting tired of this and wants to wrap things up quickly so they're sending out GE soldiers to find us." As if it wasn't hard enough to run from them, now we had to deal with other GE soldiers too. Why couldn't they just let us go? SABER cracks his neck and starts to move.

"Come on, lets go before they really do find us."

* * *

**LEYTE POV**

The soldiers groggily march on, weaving their way through the forest. Quiet complaints about not having the same 'stamina' as GE soldiers, believed they were being worked too hard.

"Shut up! You call yourselves soldiers? More like fucking pussies if ask me. Harden the fuck up and keep moving!" A voice shrieks at them, scaring the absolute piss out of them.

"How about you shut up DULUTH. You want them to fucking hear you?" I growl at her. Damn she can be such fucking idiot sometimes.

"Make me asshole!" She counters.

"I am not going through this shit with you again. Just shut up and keep an eye out." She stops arguing but not without giving me the finger before disappearing.

_'Why did I have to get stuck with her as a partner? She's useless. Why couldn't I get someone like ARCADIA, at least she listens.'_

As I muse over my last thought my mind wanders back to our first meeting. ARCADIA was so nice when we met, SABER too. In fact the two of them didn't even look they could kill anyone, they were just too... beautiful. Everything about them was perfect, not a single flaw in both looks and personality.

It pained me so much when we received orders to hunt them down and execute them. It almost made me want to leave too, but I didn't have anyone to go with. DULUTH would never do it, she enjoys this too much, thinks it's all a game. She's always hated them, especially ARCADIA, because she was favoured by everyone in the organisation, including me. So when she discovered that they had unauthorised knowledge on GALAHAD's projects, she quickly jumped on it and told the higher ups. All to gain their favour.

"Oi I found a trail!" I look up to see DULUTH up in a tree, giggling like a spoilt brat who just got candy. "It's still pretty new, I betcha we can catch them before the sun rises."

"Where have they headed to?" I ask and she points to the left.

"They headed west about an hour ago." She jumps out of the tree. "Well come on! Let's go get these bastards." She starts heading west, ordering the soldiers to follow. I stand there a moment before moving to follow them.

_'West huh? How ironic. I remember the story you once told me ARCADIA. How you were the moon and SABER was the sun._

_I don't know if you'll live to see the sun rise again.'_

* * *

**ARCADIA POV**

"Oh shit they're onto us." I hiss to SABER. He looks at me in surprise.

"So they do have GE soldiers with them. Did you see who they were?" He asks.

"Yeah. It's fucking LEYTE and DULUTH following us." SABER starts to laugh, despite the situation.

"How befitting they send our replacements. The copies come to kill the originals. It's almost ironic." He says dryly.

Moving through the trees we suddenly come to a large clearing, a cliff at the edge of it.

_'Now what do we do, we can't go back and there's mountains on either side of forest that'll take too long to cross.'_

"I guess we have to jump."SABER says quietly. "There's a river that's running over the edge. We could land in the water to break our fall." Looking over at the river, I muse over his plan.

_'Either we stay here and probably die or we could jump and possibly break our necks... tough choices SABER.'_

As I turn to answer SABER, a knife suddenly whizzes past my face, just barely missing it's intended target.

"I FOUND YOU!" An evil, cackling voice screeches out of the forest behind us.

"Fuck, not DULUTH." I hiss, drawing my blades and readying for combat. SABER doing the same, stands beside me with blades held in a defensive stance.

"Ready partner?" He asks, lips drawn into a smirk.

"Always."

Shots are immediately fired at us from the infantrymen. Using our blades, we deflect the incoming bullets with ease. As they come closer they spread out in an attempt to corner us, SABER dashes forward, slicing an arm off an infantrymen. The ones nearby direct their fire towards him but he jumps out of the way and the infantrymen end up shooting each other.

Moving closer to my targets, I kick one in the stomach, earning a grunt of pain. Spinning on my heel, I decapitate one with my blade, slicing another target with my second blade in the chest. Blood sprays everywhere and soon we were drenched in it, cutting open the pathetic excuses they call soldiers. Eventually they start to back away, too afraid to come near us.

As if on cue, both LEYTE and DULUTH soon appear, attacking us with all their might. Fighting them was different to infantrymen, they could match both our speed and strength, meaning our wits were the only thing keeping us alive. Glancing at SABER, he throws LEYTE into a tree, surging forward to finish him.

"Stupid bitch! You should be watching me, not him!" DULUTH spits at me, increasing the rate of her attacks. Stepping back to put more room between us, I easily block her attacks. They pack quite a bit of power, but it's useless to her if she can't land a direct hit. Kicking her in the chest, she stumbles back, tripping over the vegetation. I jump forward and attack, cutting her arms and chest, her howls of pain filling the cool night air.

Seeing SABER, I move in to help him. Surprising LEYTE from behind I punch him square in the face, sending him flying across the grass. He quickly gets up, looking at me with what seemed to be regret in his eyes. Gunshots fill the air again and SABER get hit in the arm, blood pouring from the wound. As I go to take out the infantrymen DULUTH appears again, her blade whistling in the air as she misses me.

Our fight drags on, the infantrymen slowly been cut down by either myself or SABER, until it was only the four of us. Panting a little we pause and catch our breaths, LEYTE and DULUTH looking rather worn out.

_'They may be newer versions of GE soldiers but they haven't got anywhere near the same amount of experience we have.'_

"GRRR! Why won't you just fucking die?! Damn I hate you!" DULUTH yells. She jumps towards me, swinging her blade around like a madwomen. Blocking her attacks I step around her, stabbing her in the back. Just as I thought things were okay, a new group of people emerge from the forest. All wearing the CAPRI project uniform.

I turn to SABER, telling him to run. We move across the clearing towards the cliff before I hear a cry of pain. Spinning around, a CAPRI soldier managed to catch SABER, blade piecing his chest. As they pull it out he falls to his knees.

"SABER!" I go to help him but was blocked. Fighting my way through them, cutting them down out of rage, SABER stands and starts to fight again but barely. Before my eyes I see him shredded by the others, becoming a bloody mess and falling back to the ground.

"GET OUT MY FUCKING WAY!" I scream. Letting out all my anger and hatred, I rip through them, dirt turning into a crimson brown. I make it over to SABER and protect him, hacking through any one who dared to try and touch him. Once again, it goes back to being the four of us, bodies litter the once soft, green grass. My rage at its maximum, I wait for them to move.

DULUTH throws a few knives at me and I swiftly knock them away but failed to see her coming. She strikes me with her blade, cutting my left cheek just under the eye, down to my jaw. Looking back at her with my bloodied face I attack, each of us slowly hacking away at each other, neither of us backing down. Eventually I see an opening, I promptly raise my leg and kick her in the jaw, feeling it break on contact.

Falling to the ground, she coughs up blood. I walk over to her, my bloodied and torn appearance striking fear into. Paralysed by this, I smirk as she had become such easy prey and lift my blade to deal the killing blow.

_'This is why you should never send a copy to kill an original.'_

My blade comes down, aimed for the kill.

***CLANG!***

Metal clashes with metal, looking up I see LEYTE blocking my attack. I flick my wrist, sending his blade soaring across the field, raising it to his throat. He eases his hands up in defeat.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He says calmly. "Let me take DULUTH back. You can take SABER away from here and I promise I won't follow." Hearing this makes me press my blade harder on his throat.

"Why should I trust you?" I growl. He was just trying to kill us and now he says he'll let us go? I don't buy it.

"I'm not saying you have to trust me, but SABER's in a really bad shape. You need to get him out of here, just like I need to get DULUTH out of here. As much as I hate her, she's still my partner." Understanding what LEYTE meant I stepped away and ran to SABER. He was still breathing but it was strained. Picking him up I go to leave but stopped before I did.

"Know this LEYTE. If we ever meet again, I may let you live... but I can't say the same for DULUTH. Next time I see her, I wont hesitate to cut head off." I spit, venom and hatred dripping from my words.

"I know ARCADIA. When you make a promise, you always keep it." With our final words said, we head in opposite directions, LEYTE and DULUTH to the east, myself and SABER to the west.

I run as fast as my legs could carry me, trying hard not to hurt SABER. I make it the river at the bottom of the cliff and stop next to it and placing him on the rocks. Checking SABER, I assess the damage he'd sustained in our fight. He coughs up a huge amount blood, choking on it a little.

"AH! No SABER don't do that, please don't do that you're gonna give me fucking heart attack!" I quickly snatch the bag I had dropped to the ground, searching for our med kit. I hear SABER coughing again and quickly run back to him. Using the bandages, I wrap up as many of the wounds as I could, putting pressure on the wound on his chest.

"AR...CADIA... don't... bother." I hear him quietly say amongst the bloody coughs.

"What the fuck are talking about? Of course I'm going to. What kind of partner would I be if I didn't?" I smirk back to him.

"There's... no point... I..." I put a finger to his lips to stop him from speaking.

"Don't speak, you'll have plenty of time to do that when you get better." I say soothingly, my vision starting to blur from the tears threatening to fall.

He lifts his hand up and strokes the cut on my face.

"You don't... have... to lie." He says slowly, voice so quiet I barely hear him. "I... know I'm not... going to make it." He coughs violently, blood going everywhere.

"Don't say such stupid things. You'll make it, just you watch. We'll go to school and do all the things teenagers do. We'll go eat things like chocolate cake and go ice skating and dancing." I blabber on, unable to control myself. "We said we'd go do those things... so you can't die here, not now."

He chuckles a little. "I'm sorry... I would've liked... to do those things with you." He takes a deep breath,

his blood slowly trickles down the rocks and into the river. "I... really want... to stay with you... but I can't now. You... have to move on... without me."

"No! I'm not leaving you, we promised, you can't go. Not now." Tears start streaming down my face, I watch as his blood slowly trickles down the rocks and into the river.

"I don't want to go on with out you... you're the only things I have." I choke out, trying to hold back the tears that were already falling.

I didn't want to live in a world without SABER. I knew that if people found out what we really were they'd turn their backs on us. If SABER left, I'd be all alone.

"ARCADIA, listen... from the very beginning... you had... always been different. I never... thought that you should... be in this kind of life. I... need you to promise me... that you'll move on without me." I stare at him unable to speak. I couldn't do it, I couldn't say something like that. But it's his last wish, I have to say yes, for him. I have to do this one last thing for him.

I hold the hand he'd placed on my cut cheek, tears falling uncontrollably.

"I promise SABER. I'll move on without you... even though it kills me to say it, I'll do it for you." I pull him closer to me, resting his head on my lap.

He looks up to me with a smile.

"I love you ARACADIA... so please... don't ever forget that... I'll always be with you... no matter what." His voice fades away with every word, I watch as his eyes close, pulse coming to a stop.

"SABER?" There's no response. "SABER?! No, please, don't go! I need you, so please, please. DON'T GO!" I scream out, my voice strangled. I sit there and cry, so hard that all the emotional barriers I put up so long ago come crashing down. Everything pours put all at once, the pain, sadness, anger, hatred, regret. I couldn't hold it in any more, losing SABER felt like a part of me was ripped off.

"SABER!" Screaming out to the sky, wanting it to give him back. I sit there, cradling him, not wanting to let him go.

Eventually I move, making a grave for him, using the surrounding stones to bury him. Not once did the tears stop falling. When I finish, I look into the sky to find the sun rising. Standing up I grab my things and walk away, never looking back. I couldn't bring myself to, if I did I'd never leave.

Instead I continue west. We planned to go to a school in that direction. A place called Sweet Amoris High. I hope I'll fit in there, so I can keep my promise to SABER. To move on without him, like he wanted. I tenderly touch my cut cheek, knowing that it'll scar. Forever reminding me of that promise.

*Flashback End*

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

Tossing and turning, I move around in my sleep. The memories come flooding back. The sight of SABER's blood staining my hands. I could feel the tears falling again, the same pain as before. I'm used to crying like this, quietly in my sleep.

But for some reason, I could feel someone else with me.

_'Why do I feel someone else next to me? I don't live with anyone and no one's been to my house.'_

I feel them gently shake me, trying to wake me up. I crack an eye open, my vision blurred by tears. Blinking my eyes to rid myself of the tears I notice that I'm not in my house.

_'Where... am I?'_

My vision is filled with the shadowy outline of someone's face.

"Are you okay?"

I freeze at the sound of their voice, the sight of their face.

_'It can't be... you're dead.'_

I start to scream.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Ahhhhh oh my God! This chapter was so hard to write. Mainly because I ended up crying while writing it and couldn't see the keyboard from the tears :'(**

**I'm not too sure if it's weird to cry at something that came from your own mind but oh well.**

**Reviews would be very nice guys. I'd like to know if you guys ended up crying as much as I did, that way I won't feel so weird :P**


	10. The Deceased Laugh

**Author Note:**

**Here we are with chapter ten. This one Castiel learns a little bit about SABER and Yuzuki earns a few questions, I wonder what will happen there :P**

Chapter Ten: The Deceased Laugh

* * *

**Castiel POV**

I woke up to hearing muffled crying in the room. Looking down I saw Yuzuki crying, face stained with tears.

_'She must be having a nightmare.'_

Shaking her gently I try to wake her, calling her name. She murmurs in her sleep and turns away from me.

"No... don't leave me... SABER, come back." I faintly hear her murmur.

_'SABER? Who is she dreaming about?'_

"Yuzuki, wake up." Shaking her a little harder. Finally she opens her eyes, looking confused as to where she was. I lean closer to her but face is blank.

"Are you okay?" I ask. Her goes pale and her eyes widen, as if she's just seen a ghost.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She starts screaming at me.

"Whoa! Calm down Yuzuki. It's me, Castiel." Covering her face with her arms she continues to cry. Gently I touch her shoulder, shying away a little at my touch.

"Hey... are you okay?" She doesn't respond, instead she sits there and quietly cries. Not knowing what to do I sat there and watched, hoping she was okay, even though she never responded to me.

"Castiel?" A faint voice asks.

"Yeah?" I reply softly.

"I'm sorry for screaming at you. I was just having a bad dream and forgot where I was, so when I saw you I was surprised. But I'm okay now, so you don't have to worry anymore." Okay? How could she think I'd believe that, it was more than obvious that she wasn't okay. The way she looked at me wasn't surprise, it was complete disbelief, like she couldn't believe that it was me.

"Please don't lie to me Yuzuki. I know you're not okay." Lifting her gaze up to me she studies me for a moment. Waiting for my next movement.

"Yuzuki. Who is SABER." As soon as the question left my lips she stiffens. Her emotional barrier put back up.

"How do you know about him?" She asks breathlessly.

"I heard you say his name before you woke up." She turns away from me but I quickly stop her and pull back to me.

"Were you dreaming about him? This SABER person. What is it that made you cry so much. Please Yuzuki just tell me. I know you don't want people to know about you're past or anything. But if it causes you this much pain then I want to know. I want to be able to understand you." I plead to her but she shakes her head, a sigh sounds from her.

"Castiel... as much as I want to tell you... you'll never understand my past or what I've done. The only person who did was SABER... and he's gone now." She murmurs quietly.

Hearing this, I felt hurt, why didn't she trust me?

"So what? Am I not good enough to know? Is you're past so bad that I can't even know about it?" My voice starts to rise a little, anger seeping into it. "Or am I just a replacement? Because this SABER guy left you and now you've come to me. Damn it Yuzuki why won't you just tell me? I just..."

"Because it's for your benefit! The less you know, the less chance I have of losing you too! I don't want to watch you die as I watched SABER die!" She screams furiously. "I can't go through that again Castiel. It's not that you're not good enough, but in this world when you know too much about something it gets you killed."

She pauses for a moment to calm herself and speaking more softly this time.

"SABER and I learnt that the hard way. We knew something we shouldn't and he died. I'll never be able to see his smile anymore or hear his laugh. If I could Castiel I would tell you, but I don't want you to get hurt." Resting her back on the wall, she looks out the window. Silence falls between us, neither of move or speak.

Hearing rustling, I look at Yuzuki who quickly grabbed me into hug."Castiel... I never once viewed you as a replacement for SABER. While you two are uncannily similar in both appearance and voice, you'll never be the same. SABER was more like a brother to me, whereas you... I love." She whispers. I gently wrap my arms around her waist and rest my head on her shoulder, breathing in her scent. I was still upset that she wouldn't tell me about her past. I know I said I wouldn't push her for it but I couldn't take seeing her so fragile like that. Like a broken doll that had given up an everything.

"Okay Yuzuki. Because I trust you, I'll leave it to you as to whether or not you tell me." I say, a smirk starts to emerge. "But do you at least trust me enough to go back to sleep and not scream at me again?" She chuckles a little and lies back down on the bed. Laying down, I pull her back into my embrace and tickle her ear. She laughs and tries to get away but I hold her tight, eventually giving up.

"Hey Castiel?"

"What is it?" I ask.

"I love you." Smiling, I kiss her forehead and tell her to sleep. At first she was hesitant, considering what happened earlier.

"It's okay, I'll be here for you."

We lay there, attempting to fall asleep. She seemed calm enough, but I knew that she wasn't sleeping. I knew she was too scared to, so I held on to her. It was the only thing I could do.

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

The sun stream through the window, illuminating the room. I snuggle closer to Castiel, enjoying the feeling of his arms around me. But feeling guilty too. I had broken down in front of him, told him about SABER. I never wanted Castiel to know about him, afraid he may try and find out more. Because of my distressed state I almost told him everything. About what I am, what I've done, the people who want me dead.

He lazily grabs a pillow and covers his face with it, trying to block out the sun. I giggle a little at his actions and he murmurs something unintelligible in his sleep.

_'I don't think he's a morning person. But at least he can sleep peacefully...'_

Castiel can sleep however he wants to unlike me. After last night I only pretended to sleep, frightened that I might have that dream again. He doesn't have any worries, doesn't have to listen to his surroundings for suspicious noises at night. While there hasn't been any signs of GALAHAD for a while now, I still can't relax.

Sighing, I turn over onto my back and run a hand through my hair, staring at the ceiling. I don't know if I can protect Castiel and the others. I've thought about leaving a few times before, but I've become so attached that I don't want to.

_'I don't want to leave Castiel behind.'_

But I can't bring him with me, that would only make the chances of him getting killed higher. If I could somehow work out a way to get them off my case I could stay here. I turn the thought around my head over and over again, every time getting the same answer.

_'Kill them.'_

Hit them head on and bring them down. If SABER were still here we could probably do it too, but he's not and I can't do it by myself. If could get help from somewhere I may have a shot at it. To get back at the people who took him away from me, make them feel the pain we feel every time we fought.

_'But at the same time I may not come back.'_

"Hey Yuzuki, how are you feeling?" Snapping out of my thoughts I turn my attention to Castiel, eyes still drowsy from sleep.

"I'm better now." I smile. He snorts and sits up, stretching his arms and back.

"Well that's better than last night." He smirks. Again I began to feel guilty about it, scaring him so much. Feeling my uneasiness he squeezes me in a tight hug, one I quickly return.

We hear a knock on the door and turn around, finding Lysander peeking his head through.

"Hey guys, breakfast is ready if you want any." He grins at us.

"Yeah we'll be down in a minute." Castiel replies and Lysander quickly disappears behind the door.

"I don't know about you but I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." I laugh at Castiel as he jumps off the bed and heads towards the door. Motioning for me to follow, I stand up and take his hand and walk down stairs into the kitchen.

We're greeted by Iris who was busy making something in a pan. Having no idea what it was I timidly sit down on a chair at the table. She brings a plate over and sets it down on the table.

"So what will it be? Bacon and eggs or pancakes?" Iris asks cheerfully. Not knowing what either of them were I chose pancakes. Cakes seemed like a safe choice. I watch as Castiel and Lysander chat together, not really talking about anything in particular. Castiel notices me staring and smirks at me, causing me to blush.

Snapping my head away I notice the others start to come down, the room fills with sound of voices, laugher and bickering. I start to eat the pancakes Iris gave me, surprised at how nice they tasted. I starting eating them like a starved dog, earning a few strange looks from the others.

"Jeez Yuzuki. The way you're shovelling those pancakes down it's either you're really hungry or you've just discovered them." Dakota laughs.

"Well actually, this is my first time having them." I murmur quietly. Everyone stops and looks at me, only Castiel laughs.

"Wow Yuzuki. First chocolate cake and now pancakes? You've missed out." I smile at his comment. While he's still teasing me he at least took everyone's attention away from me. The soon fills with voices once more, Dakota and I staring an eating competition to see who could eat the most pancakes and everyone cheering us on. In the end I won, shaming Dakota and making him clean all the dishes as punishment.

As the morning progressed, Iris suggested we all go out together and go to the park, earning cheerful replies from everyone. We all disappeared to out rooms to grab out things, taking turns to have showers. Considering the size of Iris's family, consisting of only her and her parents, I felt the house was too big. Having six bedrooms and three bathrooms for a family of three seemed odd to me. As I went to undress I noticed the switchblade still strapped to my thigh.

_'Oh shit I forgot about that. I'm amazed Castiel didn't end up finding it last night. I'll have to remember to be more careful next time.'_

Removing the blade, I step into the shower and turn it on. Having always been used to having short showers back at GALAHAD, I finish in record time compared to the other girls. Drying myself off and getting dressed, replacing my switchblade back onto my thigh I walk out of the bathroom to put my stuff away and sit in the lounge room with the guys.

"I must say I'm impressed Yuzuki. The other girls will no doubt be in there for at least another fifteen minutes." Lysander casually says to me.

"Well time wasn't a luxury in the military. You had to learn to be quick. If you failed that, you'd regret it." I chuckle.

"I'm sure you would." Nathaniel speaks up. "Which leaves the question as to why you were in a military academy to begin with. Castiel said you had a nightmare last night, something about someone close to you dying." Castiel told the others about what happened last night?

"Ah, yeah. It's nothing to worry about though." Shrinking into the seat a little, I hoped he would leave it at that.

"How did it happen?" He asks. Castiel quickly jumps in and tells him to leave me alone. "Come on Castiel, aren't you at least a little curious? You're her boyfriend right? Don't you deserve to know these things?" Nathaniel says, Castiel glares at him.

"If she's not comfortable telling me she doesn't have to." He growls at him. Nathaniel moves closer to me.

"Look Yuzuki, we only want to help you. But we can't do that if we don't know anything about you." I ponder of Nathaniel's words.

"Alright guys let's go!" Iris comes charging into the room, saving me from an awkward situation. Jumping up I grab Castiel and follow Iris out of the house. We make our way over to park, a bounce in everyone's step. I admit that once I got outside I felt much better. Being inside he never really been something I liked, too cramped. Holding Castiel's hand we walk along the path and make it to the park.

"Dibs on the swing!" Peggy screeches, Iris and Kim chasing after her. The rest of us sit around and bask in the sunlight, talking about what ever came to out minds. Out of nowhere, someone screeches out loud, a little dog runs by.

"Well that was odd." Says Leigh.

"YOU THERE!" Jumping in our seats, we face the direction of the voice and find the principle waddling towards us.

"YOU! WHY DIDN'T YOU CATCH MY KIKI?! YOU GET HER BACK RIGHT NOW OR IT'S DETENTION FOR ALL OF YOU!" She screams at us before walking back the way she came.

"Ah man this sucks." Dakota complains. "Why do we have to get her stupid dog back?"

"I think we better move it." Lysander replies. "I know what she's like with that dog. She will give a detention for sure."

"But that's not fair, she can't do that right?" Dakota whines.

Castiel then cuts in. "Idiot she's the principle. She can do what ever the fuck she likes the cow. I don't know about you but I don't want a detention so we might as well just get the damn dog." He stands up and heads in the direction Kiki went. The rest of us lazily got up and followed.

Having tried everything to get Kiki to come back, everyone eventually gave up. It's been two hours since we started chasing her around the park and she refuses to come anywhere near us, even after tempting her with food.

_'Normally I'd just run up and grab her but if I showed everyone my true speed that'll just make them ask more questions. I really tired of people getting onto my case.'_

During the small break the group took, Kiki ended up disappearing. Groaning in annoyance, we broke off into different areas of the park to find him. Unlike everyone else I was able to pick up on his trail leading to the edge of the park, far away from the others.

_'At least these trees will hide me from the others. I'll be able to use my abilities normally instead of holding back.'_

As I search Kiki behind the trees, I could sense someone watching me. Observing my surroundings, I try to pinpoint their location, unable to do so.

_'I know they're out there, but I can't pinpoint where.'_

Out of nowhere, Kiki comes running towards me and jumps into my arms.

"Kiki? Now you decide to come back?" Shaking my head at the dog I move to turn around until something catches my attention. Something flashes in the distance and I focus my attention onto it.

_'What the hell...?"_

I swiftly step to the side, the bullet whizzing past me. Kiki jumps back out of my arms and runs away, leaving me to face them alone.

"Target has been located." I hear them say.

_'You're not taking me out that easily.'_

* * *

**Author Note:**

**OH NO! They found her! What will happen next?**

**Find out next time in chapter eleven :)**


	11. Friend Or Foe?

**Author Note:**

**Continuing on from chapter ten, decided I'll put in a little surprise visit in this chapter :D**

**Hope you like it.**

Chapter Eleven: Encounter

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

_'Of all times they just had to find me now.'_

As I ready myself for combat, the GALAHAD agents advance forward and attack, filling the silent air with the thundering sounds of gunfire. As they come closer, I hastily disarm one, stealing his handgun and combat knife. Kicking him away, I shoot him in the head and use the knife to deflect the oncoming rounds from the others, scaring a few of them.

"Well don't just stand there idiots! Hurry up and kill her!" One of them screeches over the gunfire. Figuring he was the leader, I make him my new target. Aiming the gun at his head I pull the trigger, the bullet piecing his skull, blood splattering the few who stood near him and their faces turning pale. His body drops to the ground with a thud and the others begin to increase their rate of fire but could barely hold the gun steady and sent bullets everywhere.

Annoyed by their appearance and lack of skill, I walk towards them. Causally avoiding their bullets, their aim way of target, I begin to kill them off, alternating between the knife and the gun. As some tried to escape, I shoot them down before they could get away, bodies flinging towards the ground. The area becomes quiet soon after and I scan for any signs of reinforcements. Satisfied there was none, I focused my attention back to the mess in front of me, their blood seeping into the ground.

_'Is that really the best GALAHAD has? I barely even put any effort into that fight.'_

I found it strange that GALAHAD only sent infantry after me. In the last conflict with them I massacred over a dozen of their new project CAPRI soldiers and they were supposed to be stronger than me and SABER. Even LEYTE and DULUTH weren't much better, in fact I think that they were using their full power against us when SABER and I were only using about half. Why would GALAHAD send such pathetic excuses for soldiers to kill me when they know I'm much more stronger. If it wasn't for the fact I wanted to be free and left alone I would have found it insulting.

Shaking my head I start to walk away from the carnage I had created but avoided going back to the others. Going there covered in blood with a gun and a combat knife in hand would be pretty stupid. Realising I still had the weapons, I wondered what I should do with them.

_'I can't leave them behind as they have my fingerprints on it and I really don't want to deal with the police either when they find this mess.' _

Tucking them into the belt on my skirt I hurry away before any one sees me around but freeze when a voice calls out to me.

"ARCADIA." Not recognising the voice I turn around and face them.

"LEYTE?!" I gasp. What the hell is he doing here?

He lets out a breath and smiles a little at me.

"Oh I'm so glad I found you. And that you're alright, I stared to panic a little when they attacked you." He says in relief. He moves to come closer to me, myself not liking the sudden friendliness from him. Pointing the gun at him he stops and raises his hands, a flicker of fear in his eyes.

"I don't trust this sudden change of attitude LEYTE. Why are you here? Did GALAHAD send you?" I growl at him, watching him intently, but he just shakes his head.

"I wasn't sent by them." He says calmly.

"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow at him. "If you weren't sent by them then why are you here? You must have some sort of reason to come all the way out here to converse with me." I ask.

"I came to find you. I know you don't trust me but you're the only one I can depend on." I send him a questioning look, not understanding what he meant.

"You see, after our last fight, things started to change. When the scientists found out that you and SABER were able to beat us so easily they freaked out. They said that it shouldn't have been possible as our genetics were supposed to be far superior than yours." He pauses for a moment. "Eventually the organisation started to create more and more GE soldiers and pitted us against each other. Although me DULUTH always came out on top, I knew that we weren't anywhere near your level. They thought that by making us fight against each other we could become stronger."

So is that why they sent infantrymen after me? Because the rest of the GE soldiers were too busy killing each other to come after me.

"I that's the case then why are you here?" It didn't make sense. If GALAHAD were trying to make him stronger then why was he here telling me this?

"I'm here because I left. I started to think about things and found myself wanting to leave too. In the beginning I never wanted to kill you or SABER and for a long time I didn't leave because I knew DULUTH would never come with me, which is why I came to you. You're the only other person like me out here...the only person I can trust." Stunned by this I take a step back. LEYTE abandoned GALAHAD too? But he didn't know the things me SABER knew though, he was safe there. Why, even if he didn't agree with their methods would he leave and come to me? For all he knew I could have killed him in the spot before he could say anything.

"Even if you say that how should I believe you?" I ask, still unsure as to whether or not I should believe him. He motions to the soldiers bodies.

"If you check their PDA's you'll find I'm a target as well. In fact think they were looking for me but found you instead which is probably why they were so freaked out when you started attacking. None of the infantrymen have been trained to handle combat situations for someone of you skill, that'd be why they were so bad." Well that would explain things, I thought they were too easy.

I step past LEYTE and back to the soldiers, grabbing one of their PDA's check it, making sure not to leave any prints behind. As I scan through the list of targets set out by GALAHAD I found LEYTE to be second and myself being first.

_'So he was telling the truth.'_

Standing up I then turn back towards LEYTE.

"So what are you planning on doing now?" I ask. He shrugs and sends me a look.

"I don't know. I was hoping you could help me out." Help him out? I had only just gone off the radar myself until this idiot brought these soldiers along. What the hell made him think I'd help him. My memory went back to our last meeting, at the time he let us go so I could save SABER, in which he ended up dying anyway. Even so, he could've kept going but instead he let us go.

Sighing I rub the back of my neck.

"I guess I owe you one for last time... so if you want you're welcome to stay with me." I murmur, unable to believe I was doing this.

"Really? You'll let me stay with you?" He asks breathlessly but I quickly hold up two fingers.

"On two conditions. One, you'll have to attend school with me so I can keep an eye on you." I put a finger down. "Second. You must never, under any circumstances call me ARCADIA in public or reveal our real identities. Do you understand?" He nods ans smiles at me.

"Good. Now we better get out of here before anyone spot us, follow me." I quickly run off into the direction of my apartment with LEYTE close behind me.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

"Has anyone found anything?" Lys asks. The whole group shakes their head a say no. We'd searched all over the place and still couldn't find Kiki. That damn dog just had to run away.

"I'm so over having to look for this stupid dog." Peggy complains loudly, in which we all agreed that this dog was really annoying to find.

"Man if I ever get my hands on that dog I'm gonna chain it to the damn principle." Kim growls. I smirk at the image I got from her comment. I went to tell Yuzuki about it when I suddenly noticed that she wasn't even here with the group, causing me to panic.

"Guys where's Yuzuki?" I ask. Everyone's attention went to me, then to the surrounding area.

"I don't know." Iris says quietly. "Did anyone see which direction she went?" As everyone murmured that they hadn't, a yapping sound could be heard in the distance. Turning out heads around, we found that Kiki, the dog we'd spent hours before hand trying to catch, was heading towards us. As Kiki got closer, he jumps into Violette's arms, whimpering like crazy.

"What's wrong with him?" Leigh asks.

"I think something might have scared him." Lys replies. Looking at Kiki, it was obvious that something had scared him but what was a different story. I turn my attention to the direction he had come from.

"Do you think something scared him on the other side of those trees?" I ask, Lys stepping closer to me and looks out towards the small forest.

"Well they do say that place is cursed. Something about a massacre happening over there nine years ago. Maybe a ghost appeared to say hello." He laughs and I smirk at him.

I remembered hearing that story one time at Lys's house. A couple of rich families all went camping over there together one time and while they all slept, someone came over and murdered them all. Shot them down and painted the tents with their blood. When the police arrived they counted seventeen dead, some of them just children. They never found who did it and ever since, no one has ever dared to go over there, believing the place is haunted by the dead family.

"You're an idiot Lys, there's no such things as ghosts." Capucine cuts in, a frown plastered on her face. "And besides, you shouldn't talk about things like that as if it's a joke. Those were real people that died there." Lys blushes a little and stops laughing, feeling ashamed.

"You're right, that was rude of me." He says sheepishly. While Capucine raves on about how talking about those things were bad, I was starting to become annoyed and antsy.

"As interesting as this is Capucine, it still doesn't answer the question as to her Yuzuki got to." I snap. She shuts up and blushes a little, the action only annoying me further.

"Let's just hurry up and find her okay. I don't want anything bad to happen to her, there are some really weird..." I cut my sentence short as a sound catches my attention. It seemed that everyone else had caught onto the noise as well and we all strain to work out what it was and where it was coming from. It was loud banging sound that seemed to have come from the other side of the trees.

"That sounds like... gunshots." Dajan says quietly. We stand there for a moment, looking back and forth from each other. The gunfire eventually faded away, everything going quiet again.

While most of us didn't want to go anywhere near it, I had a strange feeling that something bad was happening and that involved Yuzuki.

_'Yuzuki's new here so she most likely wouldn't know about the massacre. Could it be she wandered over to the other side?'_

Realising that it may be the case, I start to run towards the forest, Lys and the others calling me back. Ignoring them I run as fast as I could, soon hearing Lys coming up from behind.

"Castiel, what are you doing?" He asks, panting as he runs.

"Yuzuki's new here so she wouldn't know about the story, she may have wandered over there when we weren't looking." I pant. I felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier, she wouldn't know that no one ever goes over there.

Leaping over bushes and dodging low branches, I could start to see the clearing. Bursting through the forest, the sun blinds me for a moment and I trip over something, slamming into the ground. The ground felt wet and somehow sticky, even though it hasn't rained in a while for it to be wet.

"Oh fuck Castiel!" I hear Lys shout. I raise my head and start to sit up, blinking my eyes to adjust to the light.

"Oh my God someone call the police!" Rosalya screeches.

_'Police? Why do they want to call the police?'_

Looking down at the ground, I find that it was a deep red. A helmet lay in front of me, a body laying next to it. My gaze darts around the place and I find myself sitting in the blood of around twenty or more people.

"Whoa what the fuck?!" I jump back out of the bloody mess, almost running into Lysander. The whole place looked like a warzone, bodies scattered everywhere.

"Hey calm down Castiel. You okay? You're not in shock?" He murmurs and I glare at him.

"Not in shock? Aren't you? There's over twenty people dead here Lys." I yell at him. Not in shock? Probably not as severe as he was thinking but I was still shocked to see this.

As Jade finished calling the police, we were told to stay there until they got there. The whole time we were silent, just staring at the bodies. Around twenty-five minutes later the police finally arrived, a whole team of specialists in tow.

"God damn." One of the police officers say. "I knew you said this was bad but I didn't think it was this bad. There's gotta be over twenty people here." He scratches the back of his head and tells the others to block the area off and start investigating.

"Alright kids, I'm Lieutenant Burrell. I'll need you guys to step off to the side and explain as much as you can about this okay?" Nodding, we step away from the crime scene and start to answer as many of there questions as possible.

A while later, a whole swarm of news reporters arrive, trying to get as much information as they could but were pushed back by police.

"Damn reporters, always getting in the way." Lt. Burrell mutters. "Anyway, you said you heard gunfire. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, we heard it from the other side for a bit and then it went quiet." Iris replies. Burrell nodded and wrote a few things down on a notepad.

"Now, before you went to check, you said that you were looking for a friend. What made you think she might have been over here?"

"She's a transfer student from Japan so she doesn't know the story surrounding this area. We thought she might have wandered over here and then when we heard gunfire we quickly came over to investigate." I reply, my leg bouncing from nerves. We had stumbled across what looked like a warzone and she wasn't anywhere to be found.

The Lieutenant scribbles a few more things down before a forensic investigator walks over.

"Ah, have you found any clues yet?" Burrell asks.

"No sir, there's no evidence to indicate who did this but I can tell you this. The victims seem to be part of some group, what kind I have no idea but whoever killed them were pretty professional." He says matter-of-factly. Burrell furrows his eyebrows and looks at the investigator for a moment.

"Where did you get the professional part from?" He asks in a low tone. The investigator clears his throat before continuing.

"From the bullet entries and stab wounds we could conclude the attacker was highly skilled, perhaps even on par with that of highly trained military operatives."

_'Military operatives? Wasn't Yuzuki in a military academy? No wait what am I saying, Yuzuki would never do anything like this right?'_

"Each bullet and stab wound were either placed perfectly in the head or chest, piercing the heart. There are a few where their throat has been cut with such precision it's almost humanly impossible. From what I can tell, most had died before they had even hit the ground." He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and patiently waits for Burrell's reply.

"You said 'attacker', meaning only one person did this?" Burrell asks standing up.

"Yes, from the way their bodies are, they seem to form a circle. Like they were trying to trap them. Also, we were able to access their PDA's before they were quickly shut down by whoever was in command of victims. It seems they had called in saying they had located a target. This target was on the top of the list and was apparently highly skilled in combat." The inspector says.

"Did you get a name?"

"Yes we did but unfortunately these people work in codenames. This targets codename was ARCADIA."

_'ARCADIA? Sounds like a girl's name.'_

As the inspector and the Lieutenant, we patiently sit there. They eventually finish and Burrell turns around to us.

"Okay, you guys can go home now. Make sure to call us if you can think of anything to help out with the case." He says and hastily walks away. Standing up, I stretch my back out, the muscles having cramped up from sitting for too long. As we walk away from the crime scene we sneak around the trees to avoid the media and split up to go our separate ways, myself heading back to Iris's to grab my stuff and my car.

Lys, Iris and myself eventually make it back and quickly go in to grab my stuff. I enter the room I slept in with Yuzuki and see her stuff there too and wonder whether or not I should leave.

_'Better leave it. Neither of us know where the other lives so if I leave it here she'll know where to go.'_

Lifting my bag off the floor I put it over my shoulder and head downstairs.

"Castiel." I find Lys waiting for me at the door, arms folded and a strange expression in his eyes.

"Yeah, what is it Lys?" I ask calmly, not wanting to show my anxiety. He steps closer and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I think you need a shower." He smirks. Looking at my clothes I remembered they were still covered in blood, which would explain the strange looks I was getting from people on the way here.

"Sure thing." I smirk back and walk outside to my car. Getting inside it, I start it and then drive away to wards my house.

* * *

**LEYTE POV**

_'So this is where ARCADIA lives?'_

My eyes wander around the small apartment, noting where everything was. It wasn't much but I suppose anything beats sleeping outside.

"You can stay in the spare room. Come on I'll show you." She motions for me to follow, I do so shyly. We reach a door at the end of the hallway and opens it.

"Here, do what ever you want with it."

"Oh ah, thanks." I quickly reply before she disappears into another room. Stepping into the small room, I put my few possessions onto the floor. Taking off my claymore sword, I rest it against the desk in the corner.

_'I wonder when I'll ever have to use it again.'_

Being a runaway meant I would have to it sometime, although how often is a different story. On top of that, I'll have to find something smaller to keep on me. I can't just walk around town with a six foot long claymore strapped to my back, that's just asking for trouble.

_'Maybe I could ask ARCADIA. She might know something... although with that outfit I don't think she could hide anything anywhere.'_

Sitting in the bed I stare out the window.

_'But ARCADIA's training is way different then mine. From what I hear there isn't any weapon she couldn't handle, the perfect soldier, the same went for SABER. I was never any good when it came to small weapons, my best ability was being able to handle heavy weapons but hand me something small and I have no idea what to do with it.'_

That had become my flaw, I was fast but not as fast as ARCADIA and SABER. In the end, DULUTH had made up for what I had lacked and vice versa. I'll have to ask if she'll be willing to train me sometime.

"LEYTE, get out here now." Hearing ARCADIA call for me, I get off the bed and walk head for the small lounge room. I find her sitting there on the floor, a laptop in hand, still drying her hair off from a quick shower.

_'How did she get that? No, how did she even get the money for this apartment? GALAHAD didn't exactly pay us.'_

I sit down next her, peeking over her shoulder to see what she was doing. On screen were multiple documents open, birth certificates and passports, as well as a few school profiles.

"What are you doing?" I ask, befuddled as to what she was doing with that stuff. She laughs and shakes her head.

"I'm making you a new identity idiot. This way I can enroll you to Sweet Amoris High as a transfer student, the same as me." She types away at the keyboard, screen flashing as she flicks through the various documents on screen.

_'She's actually going so far as to create a false identity for me?'_

"Okay, all done. Now as I said before, you cannot under any circumstance reveal you true identity. And don't even think about calling me ARCADIA in public, if you do, I may have to kill you." I nod my head quickly, knowing all to well she would kill me if I fucked up.

"Now, my name is Yuzuki Nakashima, just so you know what to call me. Now the name I created for you is Robbie McGillivary. Don't forget it." She snaps the laptop shut and puts it on the table, disappearing into the kitchen.

I sit there and debate on whether or not I should ask her.

"Hey um, ARCADIA? Can I ask you something?" I call out to her.

"Ask away." She calls back. I get up and move into the kitchen to talk to her.

"I was um... wondering if you would... ah... you know, train me in combat. I, understand if you don't want to but... there are so many areas I lack in skill, well more like most areas. So I was hoping that you could teach me." I awkwardly rub my arm, feeling nervous having asking her such a question. All she wanted was a peaceful life, to never have to lift her blades again and here I was asking her to do so. She stops for a moment, pondering over my request. Eyes distant like she was remembering something.

"Alright. I'll teach you. I know how bad you are in a fight, personally I'm amazed you're still alive... but it means that you follow my instructions to the letter, got it?" Holding a knife up in my direction, I become a little uncomfortable.

"I understand. I'll follow your every word." I reply nervously. She smiles and goes back to doing what ever it was she was doing beforehand. I sit down on the couch, wondering what I should do. Since I didn't come up with anything to do I decided I'll just wait for her to come back out.

_'I didn't think she'd agree so easily, that was really surprising.'_

I have to admit I really didn't she'd say yes. I've just barged into her life out of nowhere and asked her to help me. She's taken me into her own home, I willing to train me and enrolled me into school. What made her go so far to help? Not that I'm not grateful but I did try to kill her and SABER last time we met.

_'Although you never really wanted to anyway.'_

Sighing I relax back into the couch, sleep slowly creeping up on me. It's been four days since I last slept and now I can finally take a break. With ARCADIA around, I should be safe. As my eyelids become heavy, I make myself a little more comfortable and gradually fall asleep.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**LEYTE's back! And he's not trying to kill ARCADIA this time. Did you like my little murder twist? I'll expand on it later on for you guys, hehe :3**

**Anyway, I must go and write the next chapter for you all to enjoy. Farewell! :D**


	12. An Irishman

**Author Note:**

**Ah so sorry this took so long to update. Teachers have decided to be evil and hand out a lot of home work, cutting into my time to write fanfic .**

**Other than that, here's chapter twelve and I hope you like it :)**

Chapter Twelve: An Irishman

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

Zipping around the kitchen, I quickly make up something for me and LEYTE to eat. Since I'm generally not home I don't really have a lot of stuff to eat. Most of it being just instant or canned. Grabbing some instant noodles, I put them in a pot of water and place it on the stove to cook. I peek my head into the lounge room and find LEYTE sleeping on the couch. His face soft and peaceful, as he knows he's safe here.

_'Poor guy, he's not used to this kind of life like me. He really should've stayed with GALAHAD instead of chasing after me.'_

It confused me so much. LEYTE didn't have as much experience in surviving I do, in fact he's only been in service for a year compared to my fourteen, putting him at a huge disadvantage. While most of our skills were implanted into our psyche, the longer you're in service the more you learn and the better you are at it.

For most GE soldiers, the average service period is six years, making me really old in comparison. But in a way, I guess I kind of do understand why LEYTE came to me. I'm the wisest and the oldest, by coming to me he's increased his chances of living.

_'Then does that make me like a big sister to the others?'_

Maybe it does, despite the fact he's 6'4'' and towers over me and everyone else, he is like a little brother in a way. Turning away, I go back to the noodles. Opening the freezer I get a pack of frozen vegetables and toss them in with the noodles to cook for a bit. I grab two bowls and forks, serving the noodles and taking them out to the lounge room.

Setting them on the table, I sit next to LEYTE or Robbie as it is now and gently wake him.

"Mmm what is it?" He mumbles sleepily. I put a bowl into his hands and stares at it for a moment. "What's this?" He asks. Giggling at him, remembering my first time trying it.

"It's noodles and a few vegetables. It's nothing special but it beats eating that protein crap back at GALAHAD. This stuff has actual taste." I reply and laugh at his confused expression.

"But we don't really need to eat that much though." Knowing he'd say that, I turn my attention to my meal and eat. Eventually he starts eating too, still puzzled as to why I was making him eat.

"Look, I know you may find this weird, but eating regularly actually helps your body to repair faster, it's what helped me and SABER stay alive for so long. Just a tip the next time you disappear anywhere." I smirk and he nods. As we continued to eat, Robbie asked me about what I had done since the last time we met. I told him about how SABER had died shortly after we had split up, a flicker of guilt passed through his eyes. Continuing my story, I tell him how I came to Sweet Amoris and met Castiel and the others, the few fights with Amber and last nights Spring Ball. The silly games we played afterwards at Irys's house. He seemed captivated by my stories, listening to every word I spoke.

"Do you think I'll be able to fit in too?" He asks shyly. Patting him on the back I smile.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. If you have any problems just ask me okay." I stand up and take the dishes into the kitchen and quickly wash them, setting them out to dry. Walking back into the lounge room when Robbie starts to talk again.

"Hey Yuzuki... are you ever going to tell your friends the truth?" He asks, surprising me.

"Why do you ask?" I reply, confused as to where this came from. He pauses to think a bit.

"Well... if it were me, I don't think I'd be able to hide it from them. Not to say that you can't do it but don't you think the other, especially Castiel deserve to know the truth?" I gaped at him, trying to come up with an answer but couldn't. Robbie was right, everyone did deserve to know the truth but how would they react? Would they hate me? I guess it wouldn't be so bad now if they did now that Robbie was here but I didn't want to lose Castiel though.

"I want to but I don't know if any good will come from it. If they know the truth they might become afraid, run away from me." I really didn't know what to do. I want to tell them but I'm afraid of what might happen, I was afraid of losing people that had become important to me. While it may not have looked like it, I really depended on them. They help show me new things, show me what a normal life is like. As if sensing my uneasiness, Robbie pulls me into a gentle hug.

"It's okay, I know it's hard. Although I may not be as old as you or have as much experience as you. In reality I really need you, I don't know how much longer I could've survived before I ran into you... but I want you to know I'll be here for you, even if you still have doubts about me, I'll always support you." He murmurs in my ear. Snapping, I step out of his embrace I grab him by the collar, causing him to squeak in surprise.

"You have a lot of nerve to touch me like that. Keep in mind I'm a lot older than you kid." Pulling him down till he was eye level with me.

"Okay I'm sorry, I won't do it again." He whimpers, absolutely terrified of what I might do next, his expression causing me to smirk a little.

"Time to go to bed Robbie. You've got a big day tomorrow." Dragging him down the hallway, much to his displeasure, I push him into his room and slam the door shut, heading back down the hall to my room. Changing into some shorts and a t-shirt I get into bed, Robbie's comment playing in my head.

_'Damn sneaky little bastard. Using my moment of weakness to get a hug.'_

I was a little pissed at that, while I always knew he had a bit of a crush on me, it still annoyed me he hugged me without permission.

_'But the kid had a point.'_

I did need to tell Castiel the truth. When it was just me, hiding it would've been so much more easier, now I have to watch out for that brat. While he wasn't that bad, knowing Robbie and his mouth he'll eventually blurt it out at some point despite my threats against him. Rolling onto to my side I groan in frustration.

_'That's it, I'll tell Castiel tomorrow. It's better he finds out sooner then let it drag out. He'll most likely freak out but I'd rather he'd find out from me instead of Robbie.' _

Unable to sleep, I ponder on how I should explain things to Castiel, right up until the sun began to rise.

* * *

**Castiel POV**

"I'm really not in the mood for school today." I grumble to Lys, who only chuckled at my dishevelled state.

"Let me guess... you're still freaking out over Yuzuki. Come on Castiel, lighten up. I'm sure she's fine, you need to stop worrying so much." I stop and grab his arm, glaring at him. If looks could kill, mine would've done it.

"Lighten up? Stop worrying? Lys how could I not worry. We came across a blood bath and she was nowhere to be found. None of us have heard or seen her since then." I was so pissed right now it took all of my control to stop myself from punching him. As much I view Lys as a good friend, but saying something like that wasn't what I needed to hear right now. I know I need to stop worrying but I just can't help it.

"Okay, I get the point." He grumbles, pulling his arm out of my grip. He stalks off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

_'Damn, now I've pissed Lys off... he the only I can talk to about this.'_

Folding my arms, I lean against the wall nearby. Why did Yuzuki suddenly disappear like that? Why didn't she tell anyone where she was going. I was so worried, the stuff the inspectors said scared the hell out me. A highly trained military operative appears and kills a bunch of people and a missing ex military academy student in the same area. That part scares me the most, I don't want to suspect Yuzuki, but the coincidence is undeniable. She said that in order to protect me I had to be kept in the dark, was this what she meant?

_'No Castiel what are you thinking? Yuzuki would never do ANYTHING like that. While I can tell she has a dark past she'd never to anything like this.'_

Slipping to the ground, I rest my head against the wall. How could I be doubting Yuzuki? I sat there, not moving a muscle. I had to see her, I had to know that she was okay. Whoever those people were they wanted someone dead and I couldn't help but think it may have been Yuzuki they wanted. Something in the back of my mind just kept screaming out about it.

_'This is getting too complicated. I swear I'm going to die of a heart attack because of her.'_

"Castiel!" Lifting my head from the wall I look around for whoever called out to me. Unable to find anyone I stand and walk around a little.

_'I could've sworn it was Yuzuki calling me before.'_

Before I could react, a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind. Craning my head, white hair fills my vision.

"Yuzuki?" I gasp, spinning around to grab her into a tight hug I place a kiss on her forehead. "Jesus Christ Yuzuki, where the fuck were you? I was so scared something happened to you." She gives me questioning look, like she doesn't know what happened the other day.

"Um well I went to get Robbie from the bus station. Did something happen?" I stared at her for a moment. She had know idea what happened, how puzzled me as the whole town was talking about it so she must've heard about it at some point. Also, why was she getting someone from the bus station?

"Um, who's Robbie?" I ask quietly.

"Oh shit I forgot to introduce you!" She smacks a palm into her forehead and quickly moves to stand next to another guy. "Okay Castiel, this is Robbie McGillivary. A transfer student from Ireland and an old cadet buddy of mine."

_'Another transfer student? And one that knows Yuzuki?'_

I couldn't believe it. Standing before me was someone who actually knew Yuzuki before she came here. Observing his appearance, he wore a white, sleeveless turtleneck, denim jeans tucked into black combat boots and black gloves. His hair was a dark purple and was spiky with long bangs, kinda like what you see on those stereotypical "emo" kids, only he had a below waist length ponytail running down his back. When they weren't hiding behind his bangs, he had vivid red eyes, which kind of freaked me out a little but not as much as his height. The guy had to be at least 6'2" if not more, which was pretty intimidating compared to my 5'10".

"A Irishman huh?... Where's your pet lepracaun?" I tease, a frown forms on his lips. In the background, restrained laughter comes from Yuzuki.

"That's not funny Yuzuki." Robbie grumbles, obviously not happy from my comment or her laughter.

"I'm serious, where'd you hide him?" I smirk at him and glares back at me.

"Try following a rainbow ranga." He shoots back, referring to my red hair. I move step closer but was blocked off by Yuzuki.

"Okay enough, no more teasing okay Castiel. Now I have to take Robbie to see the principle, you should get to class." Yuzuki says, still giggling a bit.

"You're going to come to class right?" I really didn't to sit in History without her. She had an uncanny ability to remember dates.

"Yeah I'll be there, I'll just be a little late that's all." She leans up and kisses me on the cheek. "See you later." She moves away and calls for Robbie to follow. As he goes past, I noticed that he had been staring at me, shooting him a glare he turns his gaze away and follows Yuzuki into the school hallway.

_'What the hell was his problem?'_

* * *

**Robbie POV**

_'That had to be the most freakiest moment of my life.'_

I follow Yuzuki to the principles office, my mind stuck on Castiel. I couldn't believe it when Yuzuki said that he was her boyfriend. Castiel and SABER's physical structure was practically identical, it almost looked like SABER went and dyed his hair red and got grey contacts. It made me wonder if Yuzuki was really in love with Castiel, or just a memory of SABER and Castiel just happened to look like him.

_'Does Castiel even know about SABER?'_

I know she said we couldn't tell any one, that most likely included SABER but sooner or later they'll eventually find out. With GALAHAD still after us, after her, how long can she hide it? From what she has told me she has quite a few friends, can she really hide it from them all?

_'I need to stop asking so many questions, this is ARCADIA we're talking about. If anyone can do it she can. Besides if she wants to date a smart ass ranga then it's her problem.'_

Quickening my pace, I catch up to Yuzuki. A few turns here and there, we made it the principles office and she knocked on the door.

"Come in." A voice calls from the other side. Stepping into the office, a little old lady sits at the desk, petting a little dog.

"Ah, the other new transfer student. I must say, Sweet Amoris has been getting a lot of those lately." She chuckles at us and stands. "Now, here's your timetable. You currently have Literature, Yuzuki can show you to your class. You two may leave now as I have much work to do, goodbye." She quickly ushers us out of the room, leaving us in the hallway. Giving Yuzuki a puzzled look, she chuckles and shakes her head.

"Yeah she can be a little pushy sometimes. You don't wanna see her when Kiki goes missing." She says awkwardly. "Anyway, I better get you to class. I hope you like Literature." Turning on her heel she quickly heads to class and I scurry after her. We go to our lockers to grab our books, she then leads me down the hall to class. Opening a door she walks over to a woman standing at the front, who I assumed was the teacher and talks to her, she turns his attention to me for a moment and then back to Yuzuki. She quickly comes back out and pats me on the shoulder.

"Well you're on your own now. You'll most likely be asked to introduce yourself, so make sure not to mess that up. Good luck." She steps around me and disappears down the hallway. The teacher motions for me to come in, I take a breath before entering. Once inside I take a look at my surroundings, everyone's attention focused on me, a curly blonde haired girl in particular.

_'I don't like the way she's staring at me... It's really creepy.'_

"Okay students, we have new transfer student in our class starting today. Please welcome Robbie McGillivary." She says enthusiastically. "Now, what we'll do is we'll have the students ask you a few questions, just so they can get to know you a bit."

_'Ask questions? What kind of questions?'_

A brunette girl raises her hand and the teacher nods in her direction.

"Um, so where are you from Robbie? Like what country and is this your first time overseas?" The brunette girl asks.

"I'm originally from Ireland and no this isn't my first time overseas. I've been to England, France, Germany, Russia and Japan." I reply and another person raises their hand.

"What kind of sports do you like?" A boy asks eagerly.

_'Eh we didn't do sports...'_

"Um... well I guess I like cross country and hunting..." I reply nervously, hoping they'd take it and leave it at that.

"Oh cross country? You're here just in time then Robbie, we'll be having our annual sports week soon." The teacher jumps in. "You'll be able to show off your skills there, although we don't have hunting here, but we do have cross country." She smiles.

_'Well it really wasn't cross country but our field exercises were kind of like it in a way.'_

Another girl stands up and I realise it's the creepy blonde girl from earlier raises her hand, a real cocky attitude coming from her.

"So Robbie, you wouldn't happen to have a girlfriend would you?" She asks audaciously, causing me to smirk a little.

"No I don't blondie, why'd you ask?" A sly smile forms on her lips, her position shifting a little into something a little more provocative.

"Well if that's the case, why don't you and me go an a date then cutie?" She says seductively.

"Sorry blondie but you're not my type. Maybe if you were to wash that make up off and show me your real face then maybe." I snicker and a few other students start to laugh too. She stands there bewildered for a moment before snapping around and telling people to shut up.

"Alright enough of that, I think it's time to start class now. There's a spare seat next to Violette in the third row. I trust that you can take care of him Violette?" The teacher asks, a girl with purple hair nods. I move over to the spare seat and sit down, the teacher turns around and starts writing on the board.

_'William Shakespeare... who the hell is that?'_

I listen to the teacher ramble on about how wonderful this Shakespeare person is, not learning much apart from him being some famous poet from the fifteen hundreds. Giving up, I rest my head on the table.

"Not a fan of Shakespeare?" A quiet voice asks, lifting my head I find Violette studying me a little.

"Ah well, I don't really understand Literature much. If any at all that is." I chuckle sheepishly, looking away to the side.

"Not many guys do, too busy doing things like sport or chasing after girls." She huffs, writing something down in her book.

"Haha, is that so? Maybe you're right. I've always relied on brawn rather than smarts and there was a girl I always chased after, even though she's out of my reach. Sorry about that." I reply, earning a puzzled look from her. "What?" I ask.

"Most guys defend themselves from such a comment... but you just admitted to being a brawny idiot and a skirt chaser." She says plainly, eyebrow raised.

"Well, at least I'm honest." I shrug, starting to laugh a bit, the teacher starts to scold me, saying I need to concentrate. Restraining my laughter, I look back at Violette to find her shaking her head.

"That's a good quality to have. Not too many people are honest these days." She whispers back, smiling a little.

"It's how I get all the girls." I joke and she rolls her eyes.

"Yes I can see you really got Amber with that too." She drawls.

"Oh is that blondie's name huh?" She smirks a little.

"Yes and you may have some unwanted attention now." She giggles at my expression, realising that she was right. Amber would probably try and get back at me or just stalk me.

Speaking of the devil, a piece of paper was thrown at me from Amber, my hand reaching out to grab it. Opening the note I scan it's contents and giggle a little before passing it to Violette.

"It seems your prophecy has come true oh mighty sorceress." I bow to her a little, pretending to worship her.

"Yeah she's not going to give up on you anytime soon. You're gonna have it bad like Castiel." She murmurs, causing me to stop at her comment.

"Castiel? You mean Yuzuki's boyfriend Castiel?" I whisper quietly.

"How do you know about Yuzuki?" She asks, surprised at my question.

"Oh I already knew her before coming here. We attended the same military academy for a while." I reply casually.

She studies me for a moment before another piece of paper was thrown at her face. Snatching the note she quickly reads it.

"Agh, you're bad luck you know that?" She grumbles. I take the note and read, giggling a little as I finish it. Amber's little 'threat' towards Violette was quite interesting, that girl really does have some issues. Slinging an arm around her shoulders I wave the note in the air.

"Well little Miss Shakespeare lover. Looks like you're stuck with me now." I tease. She groans and puts her head on the table, quietly cursing at me.

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Haha Amber got rejected, had to do that. Not much of an Amber fan :P**

**I hope to get you the next chapter soon and please don't forget to review :)**


	13. Situations Change

**Author Note:**

**Oh hello, welcome to chapter thirteen. Teacher's have decided to go on strike giving me time to continue writing for you guys, I give them a big cheer :D**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter and have fun reading it :3**

Chapter Thirteen: Situations Change

* * *

**Yuzuki POV**

"Ah finally it's lunch. I was so close to banging my head on the table out of boredom." I smirk at Castiel who laughs at me.

"Yeah I know how you feel. Geography does get pretty boring but at least you know where everything is." He teases, walking out of the classroom.

"It's because I know where things are that it's boring. I don't get the thrill of finding some random country on a map that I never knew was there like everyone else does." I groan, putting my books away and shutting my locker door.

"Hey no complaints here. Ever since you came I've been passing every class with you with records marks." He chuckles, placing an arm around my shoulders.

"It's so nice to know I'm your personal textbook Castiel." I reply sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him. Castiel laughed and suggested we eat up on the roof, it surprised me a little since it was the first time he had invited me up there. Quickly heading towards the roof we check to make sure no one saw us and open the door. He goes around the side and pulls out a blanket and sets it on the ground.

"Because you know everyone casually keeps a blanket on the roof." I mock before he quickly pulls me down with him.

"Hey it's better than sitting on the hard ground." He retorts, pulling me into a hug. Wriggling my way out of his grip, telling him I can't eat when he has me in a bear hug. He shrugs and starts to eat his lunch, laughing at my pout.

"So... how do you think Robbie's going?" He snickers. I sigh and shake my head.

"Personally I have no idea. I more worried about him getting into trouble, the guy can be a bit of an idiot sometimes." I reply, remembering back at GALAHAD. The first time I'd met him he was so bouncy and hyperactive, like a kid on a sugar rush. I'd seen him during training, he's not a complete idiot, in fact he could be quite intelligent when he decided to use his head.

"That bad?" Castiel asks.

"Yeah, he can be smart sometimes but generally he acts first and think afterwards. It's gotten him into trouble in the past." Castiel watches me for a second then quickly drops his gaze.

"I know you don't want to tell me things but... how did you and Robbie meet?" He murmurs, bringing his focus back to me.

_'I knew he was going to ask, it's only natural for him to ask. I did come out of nowhere and say he was an old friend... Maybe I should use this chance to come clean.'_

Taking a deep breath, I face Castiel. Determination set in my eyes, willing myself not to back down.

"Castiel... I have to confess something to you." I begin.

"What do you mean?" He asks, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

"I haven't been completely honest with you... I know you want to know more about me and after thinking a few things over last night, I've decided I need to tell you. You see the truth is..."

"YUZUKI!" A voice screeches out, cutting me off before I could say anymore. Smacking a palm to my forehead I curse.

_'For the love of all things holy I'm gonna kill that brat.'_

Castiel looks at me quizzically as I stand and head over to the fence and look down.

"What did you do this time Robbie?!" I shout to him. He looks up and waves, running into the building. Moving over to the door I unlock it and open it, Robbie appearing moments afterwards. He jumps through the door and slams it shut, panting a little. Tapping my foot to show my annoyance, he looks up and gives me a cheeky grin.

"I'm serious Robbie, what did you do this time?" I growl. He stretches a little and leans against the nearby wall.

"Uh well, how do I begin. When I was in class the other students were asking me questions. A blonde chick called Amber got up and asked if I had a girlfriend, I said no and she suggested that we go on a date... I may have insulted her by rejecting her. I sat down and started talking to another girl called Violette and blondie sent her a 'death threat'. Now she's being creepy as all hell and stalking me." He says with a shrug.

I stood there and just stared. First day of school and he already has Amber of all people as a stalker? How he manages these kinds of things was something I would never understand. Rubbing my temple, muttering how much of an idiot he was, I walked back and sat down next to Castiel. This was one thing I didn't need to get involved in.

"Oh I'm not that bad am I?" Robbie whines, looking like a kicked puppy.

"Would you mind going somewhere else to hide, Yuzuki was just about to tell me something really important." Castiel snarls.

"Aw that's not cool man. I'm sure Yuzuki can tell you another time if it's so damn important." Robbie snaps back.

"You little shit." Castiel growls back. Rolling my eyes, the two bicker for a while before I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Smacking the two of them in the head, I drag them to the side to hide.

"Yuzuki what why are you dragging us over here?" Robbie grumbles, rubbing his head since I had hit him harder.

"Just shut up, someone's coming." I hiss at him. No sooner did I say it, loud banging came from the door.

"Robbie? Robbie are you up here?!" A female voice calls out.

"Oh God no, please no not her. This chick is unbelievable, how does she always find me?" Robbie complains, Castiel snickering in the background.

"Hopes she gets you." Castiel teases, causing Robbie to glare at him.

"Oh my God Castiel's up there too?" Amber squeaks in delight.

"This shit just ain't cool." He mumbles. The sound of muffled voices and shuffling was heard.

"Charlotte, go get the key from my locker, there's no way in hell I'm letting Robbie or Castiel get away." Amber growls, both boys panicking a bit.

"She has a key? I thought I was the only one with a key." Castiel hisses. This was not something I wanted to deal with. Looking around, I found that there wasn't any place to hide where she wouldn't find us as the roof was too open.

_'Damn we're cornered up here. As much as I want Robbie to suffer for interrupting me I'd rather do it myself.'_

Turning around, I notice the gym roof behind us. The bell signalling the end of lunch rang, students slowly shuffling into the building leaving the school yard empty.

"Damn there's no where to go without her finding me." Robbie grumbles.

"We could always go home, she doesn't know where we live." I suggest. He looks up and sends me a questioning look.

"How are we going to do that? There's no way down." Castiel cuts in.

"We jump." I state, his eyes widen.

"Oh so you did tell him?" Robbie blurts out. I turn around and smack him in the head again, earning complaints of annoyance at my tendency to hit him when he's an idiot.

"No smartass since you decided show up." I snap at him. He mumbles an apology and moves over to the fence.

"Yuzuki I don't understand. What do you mean we jump, have you seen how high this building is?" Castiel asks, his face in utter disbelief. I grab his hand and lead him over to the fence, giving him a reassuring smile.

"You said you trust me right? I promise nothing bad will happen and when we get back to my apartment I'll explain everything to you. About what I am, what I've done and why Robbie is here." He stands there for a moment, nodding his head to show he trusts me.

Wrapping an arm around his waist, I tell him to hold on tight. He does so reluctantly, eventually calming himself.

"Let's go." I say, Robbie punching the air in excitement. Bending my knees a little, I spring up onto the fence and jump towards the gym roof. Castiel's grip became significantly tighter as we headed towards the gym. Landing, I lift Castiel up bridal style, he curses at me for holding him in such an embarrassing way. Dashing across the roof, we head towards the other side of town. Jumping from roof to roof, Robbie laughing at Castiel's petrified expression from not only the fact we were jumping across the roofs but at an inhuman speed. We stopped as we reached the edge of town, dropping down into an alleyway. I put Castiel and giggle a little as he sunk to his knees, panting hard.

"Now this is an interesting sight. I thought he could handle it." Robbie smirks, a rock is thrown at him but he quickly slaps it away with ease.

"What the fuck just happened?" Castiel gasps and I shake my head.

"Not here." Waving him off before he could say anything. Leading him out of the alley and down the street, we eventually make it back to my apartment. Unlocking the door, I open it and walk inside with Castiel and Robbie in tow. I tell Castiel to sit and get him a glass of water, handing it to him he carefully takes it, still shaken up a bit from our earlier method of travel.

"So... I'm guessing you're going to explain how you two were able to jump off a building without breaking anything and moving at the speed of a race car. Does this also have something to do with what you were going to tell me earlier?" Castiel asks apprehensively. Nodding, I move ant sit on the coffee table, looking him directly in the eye. This time I was going to tell him everything.

"I'm just going to put this bluntly Castiel. I'm a genetically enhanced soldier, created by an organisation known as GALAHAD. LEYTE and SABER were also apart of it."

"Who's LEYTE?" Castiel cuts in. I motion a hand towards Robbie and continue explaining.

"The three of us, as well as others, were created with the purpose of war, the organisation renowned for its technology from the battlefield to medical centres. As you have seen, we can do much more than the average human, with greater strength, speed and endurance, we have been working behind the scenes taking out any potential threats before they became a problem." I pause for a moment to gauge his reaction. His face was blank, empty of any expression.

"Okay, if you're so special then why are you here?" He asks skeptically.

"SABER and I got our hands on information we shouldn't have had. GALAHAD viewed us as potential threats and discreetly tried to have us terminated. When we realised this we defected, abandoned our posts. On our way here SABER died from wounds he had sustained from other GE soldiers from project CAPRI." I take a breath, pushing back the memories of SABER.

"CAPRI? What is that?" Realising Castiel would have no idea what I was talking about I elaborated.

"There were two projects that were involved in creating GE soldiers. The first was EILBOTE, from this myself and SABER were created as the original GE soldiers. The second was CAPRI, the project Robbie came from and was supposed to be an improvement to EILBOTE." He stared at me for a moment before turning his gaze towards LEYTE.

"Does this mean you were also involved with trying to kill Yuzuki?" He asks, an underlay of anger in his tone. LEYTE nodded in response, Castiel looked as if he was going to try and kill him right there.

"It was my mission, one that I obviously failed. I had never wanted to fight them but my partner DULUTH did. She had always had an issue with her." He pauses for a moment. "After that failure the organisation went into a frenzy, things had changed. We were forced to fight amongst each other to 'kill off any failures'. I didn't like it, so I left and came here but not without company." Leaning closer to Castiel, I begin to talk.

"Which brings us to our current situation. Castiel, you said something had happened that scared you, care to tell?" I ask. He sits there baffled for a moment, mouth moving but no words coming out. We sat there patiently waiting for him to answer but he remained silent. Sighing I stand up and walk to my room and then come back.

"I take it you've seen these before." I say, tossing the gun and combat knife from the dead infantryman. He looks at them, confused for a moment before suddenly paling, confirming my suspicions.

_'So he did find them.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

My mind was at a loss. I could barely comprehend what I was being told. Yuzuki, was an experiment? A real soldier? It was finally coming together, all those questions and doubts I had. They all made sense now. But these weapons, they can't be. They look just like the weapons of those soldiers from the other day, the ones that were murdered. Staring at them, my body and senses numb, the blood draining from my face.

"Yuzuki, these weapons... where did you get them?" I ask timidly, but already guessing the answer to it. She sits back down on the table and crosses her legs.

"From a GALAHAD agent I killed the day we went to the park." She states plainly, voice devoid of any emotion. Yuzuki did kill them, she was the one they hunting? The one they called ARCADIA? How could she do that and say that to me so easily? I couldn't believe it, I refused to believe it. But even though I didn't want to, I had to know more, I had to understand her.

"So you're ARCADIA then?" I ask her, meeting her gaze. She flinches, just barely noticeable.

"How do you know that name?" She growls, sending me a piecing gaze.

"I heard it from one of the investigators, they said the soldiers were after someone called ARCADIA." The hostility in her eyes faded, returning to that soft, yet weary look she always had. She begins to laugh a little, sadness in it.

"Yeah it was me. Only they were looking for LEYTE over there and found me instead." She chuckles quietly.

"Yuzu- I mean ARCADIA." I corrected myself. She looks at me with tired eyes. "Why... did you kill them? Did you really have to?" She nods her head a bit in response.

"Of course I had to. I wasn't about to roll over and die for them. Even if I did let them go they'd just continue to snoop around to find me. It's better I killed them there and not in the middle if town or the school if they had found me." She replied, thinking it over she did have a point. From what I could remember she was on the top of that wanted list. There was no way they would let her go so easily. As much as I hated the idea of her killing, I couldn't see any other way. At least she gave them clean deaths from what forensics said. We sat there in silence, time ticking by. No one moved or said anything, even that idiot Robbie stayed quiet. I hated the silence, for some reason this would always happen talking with Yuzuki.

"So what now?" I didn't know what we were supposed to do, I knew her secret now. Did we just pretend nothing was said or will something change?

"Well that's up to you Castiel. Both mine and LEYTE's fates are set. With GALAHAD knowing I'm here I can't guarantee they wont come after me, which could potentially put all of you in danger. I personally don't want to leave you, I have become... dependant on you. But if you don't want anything to do with me, I'm prepared to leave and you'll never have to see me again." I jumped up off the couch, anger boiling up inside off me.

"Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell makes you think I don't want anything to do with you? I said before I don't care what it was you've done in past and I sure as hell don't care about what you are!" I scream, both Yuzuki and Robbie jumping in surprise. "Sure I'm upset that you have blood on your hands but that isn't your fault. In the beginning you didn't know what else to do, GALAHAD was you home so you did whatever they told you to do. When you left you do everything you can to survive. I don't care if they decide to come after me because I don't want to lose you. I want to be with you, I always have... I don't want to lose the only thing that has ever truly made me happy." I felt so hurt, I couldn't believe that she had said she didn't want to leave me but was willing to if I had told her to. Grabbing her, I hugged her as tightly as I could.

"You're one thing I never want to let go of." I whisper to her. Slender arms wrap themselves around me, squeezing me, my shoulder becoming damp.

"Thank you, Castiel." Yuzuki whispers back, I smile and kiss her cheek, an awkward cough coming from Robbie. Smirking, I kiss Yuzuki on the lips and she grunts in surprise.

"Dude that just isn't cool nor is it fair." He whines. Yuzuki snaps away, quickly snatching the combat knife and throws it at him, just barely missing it's intended target.

"You ever think about me in that way and I'll make sure it doesn't miss next time brat." She hisses at him, Robbie edging away from the knife now stuck in the wall. I laugh at him and he whines even more about how I had Yuzuki and he didn't. Yuzuki becoming more pissed my the minute, starts to throw what ever she could find at him while giving him some colourful threats. As they continued, a thought popped into my head.

"Hey question here. Why do you keep calling him a brat? Isn't here roughly the same age as you?" I ask, puzzled as to why she was acting like his, well very violent elder.

"Hardly, this brat's only a year old." She huffs, smacking him in the head.

"Wait what? Bullshit. That's impossible." I snap back.

"No it's true." Robbie says, craning his head to meet my eyes from Yuzuki's headlock. "We were created in the lab but we never had childhoods or anything. Our bodies were grown to the state we're in now and memories and information was planted into our brain. I've only been in service for about a year. Yuzuki is pretty much grandma in GE soldier lifespan and- OW!" Rubbing his head where Yuzuki had punched him, Robbie sinks to the floor mumbling something unintelligible to Yuzuki.

"Wait why is she a grandma?" I ask baffled and confused. What did he mean? Cracking her neck, Yuzuki begins to explain.

"The average lifespan of a GE soldier is around six years. Unlike the others, I have lived for fourteen years, making me the oldest. Although we may look seventeen, we're far from it... well maybe not so much me but bonehead over there sure is." Blinking, I slowly processed what was just said. So Robbie is only one years of age and Yuzuki was fourteen.

"So that means I'm dating a kid?" I grind out, feeling extremely awkward saying it aloud.

"Well if you want to go by time then yes. Otherwise physically you're dating a seventeen year old." She says casually. How could she say that so damn casually? I was technically dating a kid and she was perfectly fine with it, not care in the world.

"You do realise how weird this is for me?" Folding my arms, I frown slightly.

"Oh so you have problem that I'm a genetic freak that kills people but you can't handle the fact I'm three years younger than you?" She taps her foot, frowning back at me.

"Okay so maybe three years isn't that bad... but I feel bad for whoever ends up with Robbie over there." I point to him and he throws a pillow at me.

"That's really mean Castiel." He pouts. I could see why Yuzuki called him a brat, he could be really childish. After Robbie pouted some more, we moved to tidy up the room again. Straightening the couches and putting pillows back to their rightful places. Just as we had finished, my phone began to ring. Checking the number, I saw Lysander's number flash on the screen. Shrugging, I answer the call.

"Lys, what's up?" I ask cheerfully, hoping he wasn't angry with me.

"_Castiel, where are you right now?" _He asks breathlessly.

"Me? I'm at Yuzuki's at the moment. Why, is something wrong?" Yuzuki looks at me oddly.

"_Well I heard an interesting story today. Apparently Amber heard you and some new kid on the roof. When she finally managed to get up there no one was there. How the hell did you manage to get off the roof? Amber never left the door and that was the only way off." _I had forgot about that, Amber would most likely be having a breakdown from having lost me and Robbie. Looking at Yuzuki, I quietly ask what I should say. She shrugs and says to say the truth as she was planning on telling everyone about her anyway.

"Ah well we jumped." I said. There was a moment of silence before a murmur of voices could be heard from the other side. Recognising the voices, I realised he was with the rest of the group.

"_Castiel if this is some kind of joke I suggest you stop right now." _Annoyance thick in Lys's tone.

"Lys, for once I'm not lying. We really did jump." He mumbles something to the others, gasps of disbelief sounded.

"Look if you don't believe me I'll get Yuzuki and Robbie to prove it. Where are you right now?" Hesitating for a moment, he says that everyone's at his place. Quickly saying we'll be there in a few minutes, I end the call and look back at Yuzuki, startled by her appearance.

"What the hell are you wearing?" I gasp. She was wearing a black, skin tight outfit with metal armour over the top for protection. Strapped to her back were two black katana blades, a smaller one strapped to one thigh and a sub machine gun on the other. Looking to the side, I noticed Robbie wearing a similar outfit, only he had a massive sword at least six foot long strapped to his back and two handguns on each thigh.

"Just gear from our days at GALAHAD. I assume we're going to explain things to the others so this will make it a bit more believable... and I don't like the idea of walking around at night without some sort of weapon, old habits."

"Aren't you worried about other people seeing you?" The two were walking around with swords and loaded guns, what a great way to get the cops attention. Robbie snorts and shakes his head.

"Hey, we know how to keep ourselves hidden. Don't worry about it, we'll be alright." Robbie grins, mischief and confidence dancing in his eyes. Yuzuki calls out and we head outside to a near by alleyway.

"So Castiel, where to?" She asks. Giving her Lys's address, she picks up bridal style again and jumps up onto the roof.

"You enjoy doing that don't you?" I growl. She smirks at me, knowing I hated the idea of being carried like a princess. We arrived at Lys's house in record time, way faster than my driving and I generally didn't follow the speed limits.

"Hey, let's go through the balcony window. I want to scare the crap out of them." I whisper.

"You evil little bastard." Yuzuki chuckles as she moves over to the balcony. Dropping down quietly, she swiftly picks the lock on the door and slides it open.

"Let's go get your prank." She grins.

* * *

**Lysander POV**

"Do you really think they jumped?" Looking over to Violette, I give her a reassuring smile.

"Personally I don't think so. Knowing Castiel he's just playing around." As much as I trust Castiel, he has pulled a few far fetched stories before, this one had to be the most insane one yet. Jumping a five story building? I know Castiel cant do that, no matter how big his ego is.

"I know but... there wasn't any other way down. Amber said that she was in front of the door the whole time." She says quietly.

"Oh come on, get real Violette. Castiel's just trying to look cool." Nathaniel cuts in. "Everyone here knows he wouldn't make it from a fall that high and even if he did he'd be in hospital, not at Yuzuki's."

"That's enough Nathaniel. While I'm well aware you're not a fan of Castiel that doesn't mean you have to be so rude to Violette." I growl, stepping in front of him. "For student council president you sure can be grumpy."

"You know I agree completely there Lys." Whirling around, my eyes lock onto a familiar red head standing next to the staircase, a smirk plastered onto his face. The rest of the group gasped in surprise, Dakota even falling off his chair much to Castiel's amusement.

"Mother fucker do not sneak up on me like that." Dakota spits, Castiel laughing at him.

"Castiel? How did you get in here? And how did you get here so fast?" I had only just called him a few minutes ago, he's never gotten here so quickly unless Yuzuki lives nearby. He calms down a little, smirk growing wider.

"Yuzuki brought me over here with Robbie. She also lock picked the balcony door, I wanted to surprise you. Personally, I think it worked." He says casually, enjoying the moment.

"Right and I'm Santa Castiel." I reply dryly.

"Look I'm not kidding. Yuzuki told me everything today and after hearing it, it kind of made sense. Yuzuki isn't like us and neither is Robbie. I know it's hard to believe but we really did jump off the school building." The room fills with murmurs, questions and doubts echoing around the room.

"Okay so if she brought you over here then where is she?" I ask, not seeing her or Robbie with him. He turns around, face scrunching up in confusion.

"She was here a minute ago." He murmurs.

"We're over here Castiel." A voice from behind calls. Turning around, two figures step out from the dark hallway, dressed in some kind of battle armour, weapons strapped to their back and thighs. She moves to the front of the room, staring everyone down, face emotionless.

"I'm going to be one hundred percent honest with you. Whether or not you believe it or not is up to you." She says, watching us. "My real name is ARCADIA, Robbie behind me is LEYTE. We are genetically enhanced soldiers on the run. GALAHAD, the organisation who created us, is out for us. The soldiers you came across the other day were agents looking for LEYTE but instead found me."

"Wait a minute, didn't one of the investigators say something about someone called ARCADIA?" Nathaniel jumps in. "If you're ARCADIA, does that mean you killed them?" He pants, shaking a little from panic.

"Yes, I did kill them. As hard as it is for you to understand because of your morals, it was either me or them. It's as simple as that." His eyes widen and takes a step back. Capucine and Melody slowly edge away from her, fear in their eyes. I found myself wondering what possessed Castiel to continue standing next to her. She had admitted to killing all those people and being an ex soldier that's being hunted down. How the hell could he be so calm about this?

"What are your plans now then? Are you just going to hide here for the rest of your life?" I was skeptical of her story, as was everyone else for that matter but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what she plans on doing.

"Just before in the hallway I discussed a few things with LEYTE. We both know GALAHAD wont stop until we're both dead, so we've decided to hit back. We're going to destroy GALAHAD." A snort comes from Nathaniel, eyes full of disbelief.

"What you're just going to walk in and massacre everyone? I'm sure you'd be good at that huh? We've seen your handy work. What gives you the right to go against them? Sure they're out to get you but you were the ones that left." He spits and Castiel glares at him.

_'What the hell is wrong with Nathaniel? Why is he being so violent?'_

It puzzled me, last time I checked he had a crush on Yuzuki. Did hearing all of this cause him to hate her? If so then Nathaniel has a few issues. We all surprised, scared even to hear this but he taking it really badly, at least the others stayed quiet.

"Watch it blondie. You don't know half the shit that goes on in GALAHAD. Some of the stuff that goes on in there would scar you for life." LEYTE growls, hatred and annoyance thick in his biting words.

"We're not going to massacre everyone Nathaniel." Came a bored reply from Yuzuki. "We're just going to take out the important figures and all of their research. While admittedly we most likely will have to kill a few others, we're not going to go out of our way to kill everyone. That's just too much effort and a waste of time." That was one way to put it but now she sounds kind of lazy instead of being nice. Not that it's a bad thing, it was good to know she wasn't planning on going that far.

"On top of that ARCADIA is a legend among the GALAHAD forces. We can easily get a few to switch over when they hear it's her. Not to mention none of them really want to ever her to face her in combat. A lot of the guys said I was insane when I told them I had to hunt her down." LEYTE grins stupidly.

_'Wait a minute this guy was after her too at one stage?'_

She must be crazy to trust someone who tried to kill her but then again, she wasn't exactly normal.

"In the meantime we'll continue going to school as normal. I'd prefer it you didn't spread this around. Am I understood?" Agreeing to keep this a secret, Yuzuki stands up and starts to walk away. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then. LEYTE, let's go."

"Where are we going?" She turns around and smirks at him.

"We're going to do some research."

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Chapter complete! Yay! I'll try to get you the next chapter as fast as I can so bear with me guys :P**

**See ya later mates :D**


	14. World Crisis

**Author Note: Ahhh sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Busy holiday and lots of homework getting in the way of my creative flow .**

**But I'm back, presenting you with chapter fourteen. Hope you guys like it! And I'll try to get the next chapter to you soon! :D**

Chapter Fourteen: World Crisis

* * *

**ARCADIA POV**

"So why are we at the police station?" A voice whispers. Pressing a hand against my forehead and stand in silence for a minute.

"We're here to get information LEYTE. I already told you this." I mutter to him. He scratches his head and shrugs, not fully understanding.

"The PDA's from infantryman are here. If we can get our hands on those I can hack into them and access GALAHAD's files. That way we'll know exactly what we're up against and what to expect if anything is sent in our direction." I reply, hoping he gets the idea.

"Yeah but... doesn't the PDA's get wiped remotely if anything ever happens? How are you supposed to get any information from them?" I laugh, knowing he would ask that question. Lightly punching him in the shoulder I motion for him to follow me.

"I have my ways LEYTE. I've learnt a few things during my lifetime." I smirk and leap across the street, softly landing on the roof of the police station. Turning around, I wave to LEYTE to follow. He takes a few steps back and vaults across the street.

Walking across the roof, we find a door. Swiftly picking the locks, the door opens and I sneak into the police station while checking for any personnel.

"I take it your distraction worked." LEYTE whispered, causing me to smirk. Prior to reaching the station, I may have caused a bar fight involving a few broken limbs and a few stitches.

"Of course it worked. Do you see anyone around?" I ask sarcastically. LEYTE shrugs in response and creeps forward. He stops for a moment, looking from left to right, then back at me.

"Umm... which way do we go?" He asks sheepishly. Shaking my head I turn and head to the right and down the stairs, LEYTE scrabbling to catch up without making too much noise. Although most of the police were out from my distraction, there were still a few left behind. Namely the one standing out the front of the evidence room.

"Ahhh what do we do now ARCADIA?" LEYTE sighs, flopping down to sit. Looking around the room, I notice the guardsmen had full view of the area, a camera sat in the far left corner of the room and another just above the door. The guard was playing around with the PDA's and some of the other equipment from the squad.

_'Damn, they can see us from every direction. I have no idea who's seeing those camera's and I don't want to kill the guard. At least the PDA's are close so maybe we could just quickly jump in and get them.'_

Feeling a nudge in my left rib, I snap my head around and glare at LEYTE, he quickly raises his hands.

"I just wanted to let you know I have tranquilizers with me." He murmurs, flinching slightly as I lowered my hand that I didn't even realise I had raised. Putting my hand out, he rummages in his pockets before producing a few tranquilizers and handing over one of his handguns.

"You should probably get one of those." He mumbles but I ignore his comment, loading the gun with the tranquilizers. That was step one complete.

"Okay LEYTE." I whisper. "I need you to take those camera's out. While you do that I'll take out the guard. Whoever's watching the camera's will notice them shut off so we'll need to be quick. We're going to jump in and grab the PDA's and get out as fast as we can. Think you can handle that?" He scoffs and reaches for his second handgun.

"I'm not that stupid, I can handle it." He smirks.

With that he whips his arm around the wall and shoots the camera above the door, then moves his aim to the left, taking the second camera out. As the guard stood up, I aim for his neck and fire. He stumbles, grabbing for the desk to try and steady himself before finally collapsing to the floor. Dashing across the hall I unlock the door, LEYTE keeping an eye open for anyone coming our way. Grabbing the PDA's and stuffing them into a bag, I grab the laptop on the desk as well.

_'Might have something useful on it.'_

"That's everything, let's go." I call out to LEYTE. Turning around and heading for the stairs, voices could be heard coming from behind.

"The camera's near the evidence room suddenly went down." Said a distant voice.

"Hyaaa they're coming." LEYTE points out.

"There's nothing to worry about. We can make it out in no time." I chuckle. Silently running back down the hall and up the stairs, closing the door and locking it on the way out, we head back to our apartment.

* * *

**LEYTE POV**

Trudging through the door, I shrug my gear off and flop down on the couch. I watch as ARCADIA does the same, grabbing her laptop as she did. Turning it on, she promptly begins connecting the PDA's and hacking into them.

"Will you even be able to get into them?" I ask dubiously. "I mean, GALAHAD goes to a lot of work to keep people out." ARCADIA turns and gives me a skeptical look.

"I know how their system works. I can easily access their files remotely from here and find out what their up to." She says plainly, an underlying tone of annoyance from my earlier comment of doubt.

Her fingers danced across the keys in an intricate pattern, windows flickering on the screen, then swiftly disappearing again. Firewalls begin to pop up in a futile attempt to stop the deft movements of her fingers. This continued for a few minutes before a sound of success rang from the laptop. A smile forms on her lips as she begins to access the files, delving into the many secrets of GALAHAD.

"Okay so you're good, I'll give you that." I remark in awe.

_'She really is the best, most hackers would've failed or taken hours to get through all of those firewalls and passwords.'_

Moving the mouse around the screen, she scans through the files, looking for anything that may be of interest.

"What do we have here?" She murmurs to herself. Looking over her shoulder I find a list of service records, ranging from the lowly infantryman to highly specialised units. I watch as ARCADIA selects a file called "SENTRY" and watched as the names scrolled across the screen.

"Hey, that's your name." I exclaim, looking at ARCADIA for answers.

"Yeah, what about it?" She replies in a monotone voice, pausing for a brief moment before turning around to face me. "Didn't you see the file name? SENTRY is the name of the GE soldier unit."

"It is?!" I blurt out, a flicker of surprise pass through ARCADIA's eyes.

"You really didn't know that?" She asks dubiously. "GALAHAD really is getting slack these days if they can't be bothered telling their soldiers what unit they belong to." She turns back around and jumps out of the file and scans through the others, abruptly stopping at another file.

"A restricted file, interesting. I think I'll take a look at that." A small chuckle sounds from her as she begins to work her magic again. When she gained access, a new list of files quickly popped up onto the screen.

"Well hello there, interesting stuff here." She laughs and points at the screen. "Look, new weapons developments, medical research, organisation proposals... and a new project." My ears perk at this new information and my attention immediately snaps on to her.

"Another one? That'd make a third generation to the SENTRY unit, how many are they planning on making." I moaned, leaning back into the couch. This wasn't right, they couldn't just keep making more after practically killing off the last generation. ARCADIA was the last of hers and I don't know how many of mine are still alive.

_'I wonder if DULUTH is still alive?'_

While we were both stronger than the others, you never know when someone might get get lucky. But it didn't really matter anymore, we were on opposite sides now and she was just as twisted as the scientists. DULUTH had always had a taste for killing, got a real kick from it. Like it was a game, a game she always won.

_'Well almost always, she still can't beat ARCADIA... but then again, can anyone?'_

It was something that had always been on my mind, from the first moment I met her I knew she was different. While she doesn't intentionally do it, ARCADIA just radiates power even though her appearance is fairly innocent.

"Oh my God. Those crazy bastards." Lifting my head up, I look at the file on screen. All emotions quickly faded, leaving me feeling empty. Plans for a mass production of third generation of SENTRY soldiers to be used in an upcoming operation.

"I never thought I'd see the day where GALAHAD would attempt world domination." ARCADIA grumbles, face twisted in disgust. Personally I never saw it coming. I hadn't been around long enough to truly know what they were like, but to attempt to overthrow the UN and gain world domination? It was insane and inconceivable.

"Well I doubt they'll have much resistance." ARCADIA muses. "The UN doesn't have as much power as they once did and many countries have been having issues with each other lately. It's the perfect time to strike, hit them while they're all preoccupied with each other. Since GALAHAD's trusted by many of them, they'd never even see it coming... the perfect plan." Sighing, she stretches, relieving the tension in her muscles.

"What are you talking about?!" I scream, jumping off the couch. "You can't say stuff like that so casually, we're talking about war here! No, not war, a massacre. A massacre is what it is, because those countries wont be able to stand up against and army of SENTRY soldiers." Fists clenched, my nails dug into my skin drawing blood in the process. Chest heaving from anger, I attempted to calm my breathing before continuing. "We still have time, we can still stop this. If we can get the others to join us we have a chance of stopping all of this. This isn't just about getting back at them, this is about everyone now." She slowly turns her head towards me, eyes deep in thought.

"I know, but it wont be easy. Even if we do manage to get supporters it's gonna be one hell of a fight. I doubt many will survive from what I've read of these reports." She quietly replies.

And she was right, not many would survive if GALAHAD were to get away with creating their army. 15,000 is a fair amount to go up against, that's not including the other units. If we could get the other SENTRY soldiers behind us we could win and having ARCADIA also gives us an edge. Hearing ARCADIA stand up I look at her, waiting for her next response.

"We'll we better get started then." Nodding, I stand and grab my gear.

"What do you need me to do?" I ask, waiting on bated breath for her orders.

"Contact anyone you think can be trustworthy, tell them everything, GALAHAD, the experiments. Give them the truth. Send them evidence if they don't initially believe you but get them over here. There have also been reports of others deserting so fins them as well. I'll work on making identities, securing a base and supplies while keeping an eye on their movements. Take this so we can keep in touch." Handing me a PDA, I take it and move to leave.

"Oh and one more thing." She began. "Be careful okay." Smiling I open the door and head towards the nearest GALAHAD HG, stuffing the PDA in a pocket.

_'Don't worry ARCADIA, I won't let you down.'_

* * *

**Castiel POV**

_**Two weeks later**_

"You want to go to the beach?" The question was totally out of the blue and why she was asking me confused me even more.

"Why not? We could all go! Come on Castiel, you know you want to see Yuzuki in a bikini." The thought immediately popped into to mind, but was quickly dismissed soon after.

"Even so Iris, do I really look the type of person that goes to a beach?" She really must have issues with her eye sight.

"No... but you could always use a tan. You're way to pale." Frowning, I turn to leave and make my way over to my locker, ignoring her calls after me. Weaving my way through the crowd, I put my books away when suddenly a figure grabs me from behind.

"Hey Yuzuki, how'd your research go? And don't say you didn't do anything because the news reported that some evidence went missing from the police station a while ago. Not to mention you and Robbie have been disappearing every now and again, care to explain?" Turning to look at her, I smirk at the pout that had made it's way onto her face.

"Well it was good and bad." She grumbles.

"How so?" I query. A moment of hesitation and uncertainty pass between us, Yuzuki keeping quiet. "What happened?"

Biting her lip, she flicks her gaze to me. "Well the good thing is we found something. The bad thing is... well I can't say it here but lets just say it's BIG, I haven't been around much because I'm looking into it some more." I open my mouth to protest but was cut off. "No not here. I promise I'll tell you and the others soon, just not right now." A small frown settles on my lips but I keep my silence.

"Alright, I'll wait. In any case what were you planning on doing during the holidays?" I ask, trying to change the subject. She shrugs and mumbles something, before I could ask her to repeat, an overly annoying but familiar voice calls out.

"Yuzuki! There you are! Hey I know this is sudden but what are you planning on doing these holidays?" Iris asks, completely oblivious of my presence.

"Well I may have a few things planned, why'd you ask?" Yuzuki asks, a hint of wariness in her tone.

"I'm planning on getting everyone to go to the beach. Robbie's welcome to come too and I don't care what you say Castiel you're coming whether you like it or not. Don't make me drag you there." The comment catching me off guard, I failed to make a come back.

"Well if Castiel's going I guess me and Robbie will go too then." Yuzuki replies and Iris squeaks in joy. Myself on the other hand, begins to bang my head on my locker door.

_'Damn it Yuzuki no! I can't say no if you're going and now I have to hang out with Iris.'_

I was beginning to think Yuzuki was trying to kill me. She already knew I wasn't a fan of Iris, not that she was a bad person or anything but our personalities just don't really mix. Not to mention I found her annoying as all hell.

"Yay, I'm looking forward to it. Don't forget to pack your cutest bikini okay. Oh wait do you even have one? Oh my God, if you don't we can go shopping." She gasps, looking like she was going to faint at any moment.

"Ah no I don't. Bikini's weren't exactly something we needed for my previous profession." Yuzuki replies sarcastically.

"Oh my Lord, you are coming with me. Castiel, I'm stealing your girlfriend. I would say come along but I think this should be a surprise since I'm forcing you to go. Now Yuzuki, to the mall, we've got some shopping to do!" Iris declares, dragging Yuzuki behind but not doing so well from Yuzuki's superior strength. As they disappeared around the corner, I let out a breath and began making my way out of the building.

_'Shit, I really need a smoke.'_

I head for a nearby park, sitting down on a bench and light a smoke, inhaling it's soothing smoke.

_'I really shouldn't smoke but I've never been one for self restraint.'_

Time ticks by as I sit, watching as people come and go. Parents out and about playing with their children, the kids tugging on them, begging for ice cream. It was strange watching them, myself never having spent much time with my own parents because of their jobs. I couldn't care less about it, but a small part of me has always envied other children who had moments like these, that they had some happy memories with their parents whereas I didn't. At least not many of them.

_'But I'm not the only one who doesn't have them.'_

ARCADIA didn't have them either, hell she didn't even have a family. She's more alone than I am, I at least have kin, someone to call family but she doesn't. Unless you include LEYTE, they're at least the same, just not related.

Putting my cigarette out, I shift my position to make myself more comfortable. Eventually my eyes begin to feel a little heavy. I didn't get much sleep, too late night band practices with Lys have begun to take it's toll on me. Add in the warm sun and you get a very sleepy Castiel. Resting my head on the seat, I start to drift off to sleep. I was almost asleep before a hand smacks me on the stomach and I grunt in both slight pain and surprise.

"Nice to see some people can fall asleep anywhere they want. If that were me I'd probably be dead." My assailant teases before sitting down next to me.

"Don't you know it's rude to hit people in their sleep? Or didn't they teach you that at GALAHAD?" I growl, thoroughly annoyed by my sudden awakening.

"But you where just so vulnerable I couldn't help myself. If you had been a target it'd be the easiest mission ever, but enough about that, where's Yuzuki?" Robbie asks.

"You wont be getting anywhere near her for a while. She's been hijacked by Iris and not even God knows when she'll be finished with her." I reply, Robbie laughing soon afterwards.

"Do I want to know?" He laughs. "Actually don't tell me, now that I think about it, I really don't want to know. I'll just have tell her later." Raising an eyebrow, I observe him out of the corner of my eye.

"Tell her what?" I ask suspiciously, making no attempt to hide it either. I wanted to know what was going on with ARCADIA and LEYTE, why they were sometimes disappearing.

"Yuzuki said anything?" He asks and I shake my head.

"She wont tell me anything other than it's big." LEYTE chuckles at this, shaking his head in amusement.

"She's not kidding either. I can't tell you everything since she hasn't discussed it with you but lets just say it's on a global scale, in a literal sense too." He stands up and looks up into the sky. "A storm is coming Castiel, two sides will clash and your girlfriend is the only one who can stop it."

I stood to meet LEYTE's gaze, trying to figure out what he'd just said. What he was saying, did he mean a battle was coming? Were they really going to take GALAHAD down? They said they would but he made it sound so much more than that.

"I don't understand, what do you mean by two sides will clash?" I ask dubiously.

"If you want to know more then you have ask Yuzuki." He replies with a smile and starts to walk away leaving me behind with my thoughts.

_'I don't understand, why do you guys always do this? Why do you always hide things from me?'_

With each second that ticked by, my frustration grew. Stuffing my hand into my pocket I grab my phone and select ARCADIA's number. Tapping my foot on the ground, I wait for her to answer. I needed answers and needed them now, screw waiting. The way LEYTE made it sound was not to my liking.

"_Hey Castiel, why the sudden phone call? Did you really miss me that much? Your timing's pretty good, I just finished shopping with Iris, I think you-"_

"Yuzuki what are you and Robbie doing?!" I cut her off, I was over waiting. "Don't tell me you'll tell me later, I want to know right now. No bullshit, no excuses, just the facts." Silence followed my question, putting me even more on edge.

"_Alright, I'll give you the facts. GALAHAD plans on world domination, LEYTE and I are going to stop it."_ She replies, her once cheery voice now slightly agitated.

"You intend to take them on by yourselves? Are you insane? There's only two of you, how many will you have to cut down in order to stop them?"

"_As many as it takes. I care how many, I'll kill them all if have to if that means you'll be safe."_ Stunned by her remark, I went quiet. She was going to go so far in order to keep me safe? Put more blood on her hands so that I'll live?

"_GALAHAD is ruthless. If gain control they'll do what ever they want, the world will become their personal science field. I don't want you or the others to go through what I did. The pieces are falling into place, the board will be set and the game begins, I'll be damned if I let them win. Castiel I know you worry about me, that's something I really appreciate, I really do. But this is something I have to do." _

Was it really something that she had to do? Couldn't someone else do it? In a way I do understand, they created her and made her the way she is now but at the same time, she was just trying to live a normal life, to put the past behind her.

"I can already tell that nothing I say will change your mind. So I guess I can only support you from the sidelines but if you need anything tell me. I may not be of huge help... but I want to help you in any way I can." I knew I couldn't offer her anything big but I couldn't let her do this alone.

"_Thanks Castiel. I'm glad to know your there with me. Meeting you has been the best thing that's ever happened to me... I mean it Castiel. I don't know where I'd be if I never met you."_ A blush formed on my face. Never in my entire life have I heard anyone say something like that, having it directed at me made me both happy and thoroughly embarrassed.

"_I have to go now, I'll talk to later Castiel... I love you." _

"Yeah... I love you too, ARCADIA." I quietly reply, hearing the beeping tone shortly afterwards.

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I start to head home. I found it kind of strange, when we first met we were at each others throats. Now we were together and ARCADIA was willing to go to such extremes to protect me. I was flattered but my pride was ruined, I know she's enhanced and such but it was still a bit embarrassing hiding behind a girl. It was my job to look out for her, not the other way around.

_'It doesn't matter who's protecting who, just as long as she comes out okay I don't care. I don't want her to get hurt because of me. I'd never forgive myself if she did.'_

Quickening my pace, I ponder on possible ways I could help out. The only thing I could think of was going with her, but I didn't have the kind of training that she had. I'd only be a hindrance unless I asked her for help, to train me how to fight.

_'If ARCADIA is willing to fight for me then I want to do the same. I want to stand beside her through both the good and the bad.'_


	15. A Greeting from the South

**Author Note: ****Hey everyone! Are you all enjoying yourselves? Cause I am and I'm here to bring you chapter fifteen :D ****Warning this chapter contains some swearing.**

**Don't forget to review please.**

Chapter Fifteen: A Greeting from the South

* * *

**ARCADIA POV**

Closing my phone, I put it on the table and start to rub my temples.

_'God fucking damn it! LEYTE needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. He's going to get me killed one day that idiot.'_

Heading for the bathroom, I turn the shower on and step in, not bothered by the icy cold water biting my skin. I needed to clear my head and the cool water was a welcome sensation. While I was planning on telling Castiel, it wasn't going to be this early, his call really caught me off guard.

_'LEYTE better have something good for me when he gets back.'_

He reported back saying her got a few SENTRYs behind us, all of them more than willing to get back at GALAHAD, even if that meant that they might not survive. As long as they could take a few of them with them, they couldn't care less. Not the most noble cause but it works in a sense.

_'I'll have to train them when they get here. I've got more training and experience then all of them combined.' _

Stepping out of the shower, I dry myself off and head to my room. Grabbing a plain red singlet and black shorts, I swiftly put them on just as shuffling noises come from the front door. Moving to investigate the noise, I find LEYTE at the door, two unknown figures standing close behind them.

"I take it you've have some success." I inquire, gaze flickering between the two mysterious companions. He grins and nods, giving a thumbs up.

"Sure did. This is DAGUET and ENIGMA. But this isn't everyone, turns out they had formed a little group out south. They were skeptical at first and said they wanted to meet you first."

I shook hands with both and asked them to sit down, LEYTE proceeding to do the same. As they sat down, I took in their appearance. Both seemed to be wearing some form of uniform, a black high collared coat, covering the lower half of their face and knee high combat boots. DAGUET had short curly brown hair and light brown eyes, ENIGMA had cropped blonde hair and hazel eyes.

_'Interesting pair, wonder if they'll be of any use.'_

The pair remain quiet, making no attempts at conversation. Instead both of them continued to stare at me like I was some kind of artwork.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I say sarcastically, snapping them out of their little worlds and watch as they mumble their apologies.

"Sorry, we just didn't really expect to actually see you." ENIGMA offers nervously. "It's kind of frightening seeing you in person. After all, not many who do live to tell the tale. You are of course a legend among us but from recent events, even the other SENTRY soldiers have begun to fear you."

_'Do I really seem that scary to people?'_

I was taken aback by it, while having people fear you could be useful sometimes, now probably wasn't such a good time. We need allies and I don't want to force people into joining.

"Well I would have preferred not to have been in that situation but fate decided otherwise." I reply, remembering the clash from which SABER had passed away.

"Is it the reason you wish to start a war against GALAHAD?" He asks, myself shaking my head in response. "Well, you may not be in it for revenge... but we are." ENIGMA's voice grows darker. "The things they did to us are unforgivable and any chance that allows us to get payback is more than enough motivation for us."

"I don't care what your reasons are, if you're willing to join that's great. When this is over you can all go and live happy lives. I've already created some identities that you can use, just give me numbers and I'll get things sorted. I'll even train you for free." The pair share a glance at each other before looking back at me.

"You'd willing train us? Seriously?" DAGUET asks, becoming excited. I smiled at his childish reaction.

"I said I would didn't I? I'd prefer to see you guy walk off the battlefield." I wanted them to be prepared for it. Having them die under my orders is something that I don't want to have on my conciousness.

"We're in then. Training from you is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"That's good to hear. Now for business, how many SENTRYs are back south?" Getting straight to the point, I wanted to know how many 'trainees' I'll have.

"Yeah, we're not all SENTRYs." ENIGMA swiftly replies. "Including us, there's nine SENTRYs. We also have ex-infantrymen and spec-ops, they total to eighty four. Your disappearance caused quite a stir, not just in our ranks. It shook the entire system, people leaving left and right."

_'Didn't think I was so influential.'_

Regardless, it was useful information. If people were leaving because of me, then I could persuade more to switch sides. Not to mention it was good thing I brought that old boarding school, this was a few more then I was expecting in such a short time. Grabbing a piece of paper, I quickly draw a rough map leading to the school and hand it to ENIGMA.

"Here's the location of our HQ. Get everyone over ASAP, I want them to get comfortable here before we do anything else." They quickly nod and take the note, standing up to leave.

"Understood, we'll move as fast as we can... but I'm sure once they hear they'll get training from you we wont need to tell them to move." ENIGMA chuckles lightly and steps out the door, waving to DAGUET to follow.

"That was easier than expected." I mutter quietly as they rounded the corner of the street. Closing the door, I move back into the lounge room and sit down what needed to be done first in my head, how I should go about training them, what equipment we need, that sort of stuff. As a plan was beginning to form, another small detail creeped back into my thoughts.

_'Iris wants to go to the beach... how the fuck am I going to do this?'_

I'd completely forgotten about it and she was leaving in two days.

_'Guess I'll have to ask LEYTE to stay behind and keep things going. I'll have to pay him back for it later.'_

Looking around the room for him but he had already left. Calling out to him, I told him to come back here.

"You called Oh Mighty One?" He snickers, a frown was all he received.

"Iris wants me to go to the beach in a few days. I need you to watch things here, I'll get all the technical stuff done. You just have to baby sit for a while." I smirk.

"Oh so you get to have all the fun while I take care of the kiddies? You're horrible you know that." He pouts and I roll my eyes.

"Shut the hell up, I'll bring you ice cream in return. A whole tub." As soon as the word 'ice cream' was said, excitement and hunger flared in his eyes.

"Make sure it's strawberry." He squeaks excitedly. Agreeing to his request, I get and head to my room.

_'Guess I should start packing.'_

* * *

**LEYTE POV**

I was ecstatic and slightly disappointed. The idea of being her by myself was a bit daunting given the situation but ARCADIA was trusting me to take care of things in her stead.

_'I'm so happy! I'm actually useful to her.'_

Grinning, I decided to grab my claymore and practice a little, the sudden rush of excitement giving me a boost of energy that I needed to work off. Besides, there wasn't any harm in making sure I looked like I knew what I was doing. If I was going to be ARCADIA's second-in-command, I needed to look sharp, composed and strong.

_'Ohhh, just the idea of being her wingman is working me up.'_

Lifting the claymore, I start with a few practised swings, adjusting my grip on the blade. Slowly moving the blade, I work through the techniques ARCADIA taught me a few days ago. Balancing my weight, I move my body, retracing the intricate steps, hoping I was doing it right. After some time, the blade almost felt weightless as it sliced its way through the empty air. Again and again, I continued practising, even though I didn't really have to, I wanted to become stronger, more skilled, more prepared.

_'I don't want the same thing to happen like last time.'_

The last clash DULUTH and I had with ARCADIA and SABER, our defeat was, humiliating. I wasn't trying to kill them but to be beaten so easily, after all the praises and claims from the scientists it really hit my pride and my confidence. The look in ARCADIA's eyes that day, I felt scared for the first time in my life.

_'I really thought I was going to die.'_

I shook my head to try and rid myself of those thoughts and concentrate, sighing as they didn't go away.

"You learn fast." A voice sounds from behind. Looking over my shoulder I see ARCADIA standing in the doorway. "But you'll never get it perfect." She adds.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, feeling a little insulted.

"Because it works to my style, not yours. While I can show you things, teach you my ways, in the end you'll have to create your own style." Shifting my gaze to the ground, I ponder her comment for moment. She had a point, her style was much more different then mine, that much I remember. Hers is more of speed and agility whereas mine is more of power, almost polar opposites.

"So you don't think I can be as tough as you?" I tease, a small giggle escaping from her.

"That is true but I wouldn't call myself 'tough'. Just experienced." The faint smile fades away, replaced with a more serious look. "And that, is something you have to learn yourself. I could show you all the techniques in the world but they wont mean anything unless you have the experience to effectively use them."

It was a valid point. Without experience, all the training, the studying, would be useless to me. I can't fully understand what's being taught to me unless I use them in real combat. Raising my head, I turn and face ARCADIA.

"This may be sudden, but would you mind sparring with me?" An eyebrow deftly raises, eyes examining me. She turns around and heads back into the house, reappearing with her katanas and steeping outside.

_'Wow she's actually going to spar with me?'_

Without warning, she dashes forward and I barely manage to bring my claymore up in time. Pushing her forward, I step back to put some distance between us, locking my eyes onto her and waited for her next move. Shifting her weight slightly to the left, I bring my claymore to the side and block her speedy attack. Using her other katana, she moves to attack, causing me to bend back in an awkward position to avoid her blow. Pain erupts in my back and I end up being kicked across the yard, landing face first into the ground.

"Switch the angle of you blade next time instead of bending back like that." She instructs, walking slowly towards me. Swiftly standing back up, ARCADIA leaps forward again and I block once again. Swinging both her blades, I try to keep up with her and keep blocking her while watching her stance for any sudden changes. Again and again, always her attacking, always me blocking, I found it hard to find any openings or changes. After some time I soon spot one and step back to dodge her kick before noticing a subtle smirk forming.

_'What's so funny? Why is she laughing at me?'_

***SMACK!***

Grabbing my jaw, I let out a small groan of pain. I spat, ridding myself of the metallic taste in my mouth and glared at ARCADIA, who only returned it with indifference.

"One must always be prepared for anything LEYTE." She says smugly, raising a hand to try and hide her smirk. While I had spotted the kick, I didn't think about her using it as a ruse, having the real attack come afterwards and had promptly learnt it the hard way. A backhand from ARCADIA really hurt.

"It was a cheap shot." I pout. "Don't think I'll let you get me like that again."

"Hmmm, is that a challenge? Because if it is, then I accept." A threatening aura starting to emanate from her as she ran a finger along one of her blades. "From this kind of confidence, I think I may be going too easy on you."

_'Good, I don't like it when she goes easy.'_

Loosening my stance, I bring my claymore forward to attack but ARCADIA easily blocks it. I was fairly certain I had the advantage of strength over her and so I used it to push her back into the nearby wall. Letting out a small grunt, she glares back at me and I snicker at her current predicament.

"Not so high and mighty now." I snicker in a teasing manner, annoyance flares in her violet eyes.

"I wouldn't be so cocky now, not when you can't follow through with it." I giggle a bit from her response.

"Is they mighty one going to punish me now?" I query, watching the smile grace her lips.

"Of course I am." Kneeing me in the stomach, I stagger back a bit. Gasping for breath I quickly look up but was surprised when I couldn't see her.

_'Where the fuck did she go?!'_

Panicking, I look from left to right before feeling a sudden presence from behind.

"Miss me?" A voice whispers in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. Whirling my blade around to strike, it was caught by ARCADIA who smirked as she twisted the blade from my grasp and sent it flying across the grass.

_'Holy shit she's fast!'_

A fist connected with my jaw and another in my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs again. I move to punch her but was too slow in my movements and she grabbed my arm, elbowing me in the face and then threw me into the fence. Crumpling onto the ground, I grabbed my nose, checking to see if it was broken. A sharp point pricked at my neckand I cracked an eye open to find ARCADIA looming above me. Slowly I stood up and raised my hands in defeat.

"You still need a lot of practice... but you have however, improved since last time." She says slowly. "When the others arrive I expect you to train with them, learn from them. Give them a few pointers since you have already been taught a few things from me." Lowering her katana, I somewhat shakily rub the spot where it had been and watch as she walks away but pauses at the door.

"Is something wrong?" I ask but she shakes her head and said it was nothing before quickly disappearing through the door, leaving me alone in the cool night air.


	16. Ocean Adventures - Part I

**Author Note: Hello to all! I present to you chapter sixteen. I thought I'd spice things up with a holiday at the beach to get us away from all that drama. This may go over two or three chapters, depending on how I think it's going. In any case, I hope you enjoy :)**

Chapter Sixteen: Ocean Adventures – Part I

* * *

_**Maui, Hawaiian Islands**_

**Castiel POV**

A cool breeze went by on a hot summers day, gentle waves rolling onto white sandy beaches, revealing the sea shell treasures hidden underneath. Seagulls soared high in a clear blue sky, watching the group of teenagers setting up umbrellas and pumping up inflatable balls.

"Ahhhhh~ Isn't today just wonderful? The weather's perfect, the foods all packed, what more could you ask for?" Iris remarks, putting a hand over her face to block out the suns harsh rays.

_'It's fabulous. Best decision of my life. Oh wait, I didn't agree to this but Iris seems to think 'no' means 'yes'. What the hell am I even doing here? All I wanted to do was sleep.'_

"I must admit, you look absolutely _thrilled_ to be here Castiel." Lys chuckles as he moves to stand next to me. I fold my arms over my chest, muttering to myself on how he could be a real smart ass sometimes.

"Haha, you're funny. At least you get to see Yuzuki in a bikini."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? Her body isn't the reason I'm interested okay." I snap and he laughs some more.

"Really? You're not finding any attraction to it? That's a shame, she's got a really nice figure." Whirling around to hit him, I halt my attack, realising that he wasn't joking. During my grumbling, the girls had gone and changed, coming out just as Arcadia was arriving.

_'Holy mother, how the hell did I not see that?'_

Dressed in a simple light blue and green palm tree patterned bikini, it was easy to see that she really did have a good body. Long slender legs, gentle curves and being well endowed, she probably had a body that could rival models if it weren't for the faint scars marring her pale skin. I already thought she was beautiful but now she was just damn sexy.

"You realise you're staring right?" Lys points out and I blush, looking the other way to hide my embarrassment. Lys pats me on the back and guides me over to the others, chuckling at my reddened cheeks.

A cold hand touches my forehead, startling me for a second before realising it was only Arcadia.

"Are you okay Castiel? You don't look so good." She asks with a concerned tone. Smiling, I take her hand in mine and she slightly raises an eyebrow.

"I'm fine, just a little hot that's all. So how about we go for a swim and cool off?" Not waiting for a response, I pick her up and sling her over my shoulder, earning a gasp of surprise and head for the water.

"Ah Castiel has the right idea. Let's go everyone!" Iris calls out and chases after us. Throwing Arcadia into the water, I laugh as she came back up with a look of surprise and annoyance, pouting at me for throwing her into salty water.

"You're going to regret that." Eyes glinting with mischief and ill intention.

"Whatever you say beautiful." I tease and she blushes, for someone as tough as her, she sure did blush a lot.

"HEY CASTIEL!" Someone crashes into me from behind and grabs me, both of us crashing into the water. The assailant then lifts me out of the water and swings me around, Arcadia and the others laughing at my bewildered expression.

"Dakota let go of me!" I scream at him but he laughs it off and continues to spin around like an idiot before throwing me back into the water. I gasp for air as I reach the surface, hair sticking to my face and eyes burning from the ocean water and I rub my eyes trying to get it out.

"Oh is Cassie crying?" Dakota says, referring to my watering eyes.

"Fuck you Dakota." I growl and quickly slap away his hand that tried to reach out for me. He rubs his hand and pouts at my unsociable manner.

"Geez that's not very nice Cassie." He whines.

"Stop calling me that!" I snap, anger and annoyance growing from every word he spoke. "It's _Castiel _not _Cassie_."

Realising I'd probably try to kill him soon, he shrugs and jogs off towards Iris and the others who, from what I could make out, had set up a volleyball net at some point.

_'Jeez is there anything Iris didn't pack?'_

I mused, she had practically brought everything one could think of. Food, umbrellas, extra towels, chairs, cooler, beach toys and a portable stereo which was currently hooked up to iPod and was playing One Direction, much to my distaste. A calloused hand gently lifts my chin up, tilting my head back.

"Open your eyes." I do as I was told and as soon as they were open, water was being poured into them and jump back growling.

"Argh, what the hell? I don't need any more water in them damnit!" It freaking hurt but before I could rub them again, the same calloused hands grabbed my wrists.

"If you rub them it'll only make them worse." A smooth voice says, although I could pick up on the underlying tone of amusement.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Arcadia chuckles a little before releasing her grip on me and steeping closer to hug me.

"Well maybe a little. I'd like to think of it as karma for throwing me in the water earlier." She replies smugly, smirking at me.

"Yeah whatever, maybe I did deserve it... but it was still pretty funny, the look on your face was priceless. You obviously don't like when you don't have control." I tease, she slaps me on the arm and turns away, folding her arms. Slipping my arms around her waist, I pull her back into a hug, placing a kiss on the nape of her neck. "Oh don't be like that, I didn't mean it in a bad way." She looks back at me for a moment before snapping her attention back at the shoreline.

"Hey lovebirds, get over here! We're playing volleyball, it's boys versus girls and I need Arcadia to kick Dakota's butt!." Iris screams at us. Shaking my head I release Arcadia and she smirks back at me before running off to the others. I follow and sit down next to Violette and Capucine as Iris argues about how we were going to play.

"Okay, we need four people on each team, we've got seven boys and eight girls." Iris points out and turns around to look at us. "Since you guys look really comfy down there, you can stay there but don't think you're getting out of playing. Especially you Castiel." I raise my hands in defeat and she nods in approval before turning around and telling everyone to get into their positions. Lysander, Leigh, Melody and Peggy move over and sit with us as the others got ready. The girls team was consisted of Iris, Kim, Rosalya and Arcadia, whilst the boys consisted of Dakota, Jade, Dajan and Nathaniel.

"I call first shot!" Iris shouts out and Dakota snaps back.

"Oh and why do you get first shot?" He asks with a pout.

"It's called 'ladies first' idiot." Iris throws the ball in the air and hits it over the net, Jade scrambling to hit it back. Rosalya hits it back and Dajan dives for it, the ball bouncing between the players as they steadily got into the game. Minutes tick by and I watch as Arcadia does nothing but stand there and watch the ball bounce around.

_'Now that I think about it... has she ever played before?'_

I didn't think that she had so she probably had no idea what to do and it wasn't like Iris explained the rules. As the game progressed some more, she still hadn't moved from her spot.

"Jeez, does that chick even know how to play?" Whipping my head around, my eyes lock onto a blue haired stranger. With him was another figure who looked to be his twin, only he had black hair. The blue haired boy looks down at me for a moment before flashing a smile.

"Hey there." He says cheerfully. "I'm Alexy, this is my twin brother Armin." He extends his hand but I refused to shake it and only grunted in response before turning back to the game.

"Hey don't ignore people, that's just rude." Alexy whines, standing in front me and waving his hands. His brother grabs him and starts to pull him away from me.

"Sorry about that. He's like that sometimes." Armin apologises in a quite voice. Waving him off I tell him not to worry about it.

"It's fine. I'm generally surrounded by idiots so I'm used to it. I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Castiel." I reply, shaking Armin's hand and motion for him to sit down with us. The others introduce themselves, Alexy jumping into conversation with the girls while Lys and I chat with Armin.

"So who's winning?" Armin asks timidly, nodding towards the game.

"The boys are, 4-0. The girls aren't going so well, probably because Dakota is purposely avoiding Arcadia." Lys points out, Armin turns back at the game.

"Is that the girl who hasn't moved?" We nod and he shakes his head. "I don't get it, why's he doing that? Is she really good or something?" Lys and I share a glance, wondering how we should explain it to him.

"Uh well, she's never actually played before but um... she has an uncanny ability to learn really fast." I awkwardly reply. He nods a bit, seeming content with the answer. They keep playing, the boys racking more points up and the girls were beginning to tire out.

"Ahhh, wait time out." Iris pants, barely standing and gasping for breath. Turning around to the other girls she motions for them come closer and gets them into a huddle, the boys doing the same after seeing them do it.

"Wonder what they're going to do." Lys comments and the others nod in agreement.

"She's going to switch the positions. As you said earlier Dakota's purposefully avoiding Arcadia so she's most likely going to put her up front for offence instead of defence." Lys pauses for a moment but speaks up again.

"Yeah but then he'll just aim for the back instead." He counters. It was true, he most likely would but having her at the front made more sense than the back. Not to mention I knew first hand how high she could jump. They get back into their positions and as I had predicted, Arcadia was at the front.

"What? Why's that chick at the front? They're gonna lose so badly." Alexy groans, smacking a palm to his forehead but I decided it best to ignore him for now. Dakota chuckles as he readies himself to serve. Tossing the ball up, he strikes it with all his might, aiming for Kim in the back.

***THWACK***

Landing gracefully back on the ground, Arcadia simply smirks back at Dakota who stood there wide eyed and open mouth.

"Holy crap what the hell was that?! That was so fast I barely even noticed it!" Alexy exclaimed. Arcadia had jumped up and hit the ball back so fast that the boys didn't even have time to react, meaning that Iris's plan had succeeded. The girls began cheering as over and over again, Arcadia managed to strike back every shot that came, racking up the points in record time. After fifteen minutes, Dakota admitted defeat, falling back onto the ground gasping for air. The others did the same, having had the most intense workout in their entire life.

"I see now why they were avoiding her." Armin begins. "That has to the most insane game of volleyball I've ever seen. That's saying something when you have Alexy as a brother." Lys and I laugh and Alexy gasps at his brother's comment, complaining how he wasn't that bad. The boys slowly drag their way over to us, the girls giving them some well earned drinks. Eventually Arcadia comes over and sits in front of me.

"You know, at first I thought volleyball would be boring... but after playing it, I think I really like it." She smiles and passes the ball to me and I spin it around on a finger. After spotting Dakota, I threw the ball, hitting him square in the face.

"Ahhh dude, Castiel that fucking hurt man." Dakota groans, rubbing the red mark appearing in his forehead.

"Payback for earlier." I say, snickering at him. He frowns and turns away from me, putting his hands over his head in an attempt to shield his head.

After the others had rested, the group went back to playing volleyball. Alexy turned out to be quite good at it but I couldn't really say the same for his brother. The girls decided they'd go swimming, Iris saying something about wanting to get a tan as well.

_'Why are girls so interested in tans?'_

It was something that I didn't really get but as I was thinking about it, I hoped that ARCADIA didn't think about getting one. She looked better pale, a tan would just look strange on her.

"Hey Castiel. What's that girls name? The one with the white hair." Alexy asked in between shots. I look at him out of the corner of my eye and a slight frown settled on my lips.

"Why do you ask?" I was pretty sure I already knew the answer but asked anyway.

"Oh I just thought she was cute that's all." He replies. And there it was, I knew it was going to be that. I went to speak but Dakota answered for me.

"Hey man I wouldn't go there. Arcadia is Castiel's girl." Alexy stopped and stared at me, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Oh sorry, I didn't know. Don't worry I wont try anything." He quickly spits out, I shake my head and said it was alright but if did try anything I'd kill him.

_'I'm gonna have to keep an eye on that guy.'_

* * *

**Arcadia POV**

It was cold in the ocean but it was okay, I was used to the cold and I found it somewhat comforting. Floating in the water, I just relaxed and ignored the screams coming from the other girls. Normally I'd be over there with them but right now I needed a little time to myself. I liked to take time out for myself, most of the time I spent it just looking at the scenery, staring up the blue sky I was thoroughly amazed by how blue it was.

_'SABER always loved the colour blue.'_

When we weren't on missions we'd sit outside and stare at the sky for hours. It was a little past time we enjoyed together, doing nothing and just appreciating the world was around us.

"Hey Arcadia get over here, we're going to get us some drinks and ice cream." Kim shouts out to me from the shore. I swim over to them and take the towel Kim offered me, quickly drying myself off and putting my shoes on.

"Here, since you're stronger you can carry the cooler." Kim says, handing me the cooler.

"Alright ladies, let's go!" Linking arms with me and Kim, Iris drags us towards town, Peggy tagging along as well. I quickly glanced behind me and gave Castiel a quick wave, he responded with a confused look but waved back anyway before turning his attention back to volleyball. The town wasn't really far, about a twenty minute walk and relatively uneventful. Once we reached the store, we grabbed our choice for drinks and ice cream, getting something for the boys too. In the end, the cooler was completely stuffed and with the extra ice to keep it cool, the others started to shift a little.

"Are you really going to be able to carry that?" Peggy asks, looking down at the massive cooler at her feet. Shrugging, I pick it up and start to walk off, carrying the cooler with ease and the others quickly chase after me. The girls chatter amongst themselves, trivial things like fashion and the hottest celebrities. A few times they tried to talk to me about but I couldn't really get into it, mainly because I had know idea who most of the people they were talking about even were.

_'I guess I still have a lot to learn.'_

I inwardly sigh, being a teenager is really hard. All these little things to remember, unwritten rules to follow, it's really hard to keep up sometimes. Peggy continues to blabber on about her school newspaper and how she has all these 'major' plans to put in place when we get back. As she was talking, her last sentence was cut off by a small yelp.

"Well hey now, look what we got here guys." An unknown male croons. He was at least mid-thirties and had a rather shady appearance. "Look at all these cuties." He lets out a low whistle, turning around and chuckling to his friends, all of whom eyed us with a predatory gaze.

"U-um thanks, but we ah need to get going." Peggy chuckles nervously, shuffling around the older male. He grabs her around the waist and pulls her closer, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"Aww, you're not gonna leave me and my buddies all alone are you? Why don't you and your friends come with us for a bit of fun." Peggy struggles in his grip and he laughs at her futile attempts of escape, fear rapidly growing in her eyes. I could tell their meaning of 'fun' wasn't anything pleasant and leaned over to Kim and Iris, giving them the cooler to free my hands and pulled Peggy out of the man's grasp.

"We're not interested in whatever it is you consider 'fun'." I growl, glaring daggers at them. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way." Pushing through them, I made sure the others were in front of me, whispering to them to move quickly.

"Hey you get back here." The man growls but we ignore him and keep walking. "You snotty little bitches. What you think you're too good to spend a little time with us?"

"As I said before we're not interested. Now piss off before someone gets hurt." I spit.

"I don't think so." The man grabs my shoulder harshly, forcing me to face him and smirks at me. Without warning, I punch him in the face, feeling the satisfactory cracking of bones. He stumbles back, holding his nose as blood gushes out and staining his clothing.

"Anyone else?" I snarl, watching the others. They shake their head and grab their friend, leading him away from us. I watch them until I was satisfied they were really gone and took the cooler from Iris and Kim. "Let's go." I grumble, setting a quick pace back to others.

The whole way, Peggy was constantly clinging to me and denied it every time I mentioned it, despite the fact she wouldn't let go of my arm.

"I'm not clinging, I'm just making sure no one else tries to grab me." Peggy huffs in response, subtly glancing at our surroundings. We finally made it back and the others came over to greet us, asking what took us so long to get back.

"Ah this creepy old pervert and his friends tried to kidnap us!" Peggy exclaims dramatically. "As the pervert grabbed me, Arcadia pulled me from his iron grip. Then, as he tries to force her to face him. BAM! She punches him square in the face, blood spraying everywhere." She motions with her hands, trying to re-enact the scene. "After that, she turned around giving the others the deadliest glare, effectively scaring them off. It was amazing, this story is definitely going in the school paper." I shake my head at her antics, quickly noticing the smirk on Castiel's face as he walks towards me.

"Hmm, so is that his blood or yours?" He smirks, referring to my hand. I shrug, saying there's no way it'd be mine. "Oh well, as long as you're okay, I don't really care who's it is." Castiel chuckles a little but was suddenly pushed out of the way, Peggy grabbing onto my arm.

"Sorry Castiel but Arcadia's mine now. There isn't any way I'm letting my night in shining armour be with someone like you." Peggy pokes her tongues out and Castiel growls in frustration.

"And what the hell do you mean by that?" He spits. Peggy smirks and grabs my arm tighter.

"Well you're a delinquent and I'm not. Not to mention she's more of a man than you are. So from now on we're going to lesbians together, right Arcadia?" She bats her eyelids at me, the others just stare at us. Blushing I look away, having no idea how to deal with this kind of situation.

_'This has to be the most embarrassing moment of my life! Thank God Leyte isn't here.'_

"Ah um, as... thrilling as this offer is Peggy... I'm afraid I'm, not really into girls." She giggles and winks at me.

"Well that can always be dealt with." She stands on her toes, her face inching closer to mine and my blush immediately becomes deeper. Panicking, I jump back and quickly spit something out about forgetting to get something and run off.

Running back to town, I pace around for a bit before finding a bench and quickly claiming it. Sitting cross-legged, I try and process just what was happening.

_'Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, fuck! What do I do! Peggy's in LOVE with me, what the hell? Save her once and now I'm her prince? Ahhh what do I do?'_

I couldn't go back, she just tried to kiss me. And the girls are supposed together, there's no way I'm sleeping with Peggy, there's no way to know what she might do next. Knowing Peggy and her forceful ways, she'd probably try and rape me in order to turn me lesbian or at the very least bisexual. I never thought I'd ever encounter this kind of problem when I started school.

"Ahhh girls are so weird!" I shout, ignoring the strange looks from passers-by, they were the least of my problems right now.

_'I need a distraction. __Something to calm my nerves__.'_

Looking around I found nightclubs and liquor stores everywhere.

_'Whatever. A __stiff__ drink will do me good.'_

Standing up, I march over to the liquor stores, sending glares at anyone who stood in between me and a bottle of vodka.

Once inside, I browse the assortment of beverages, pondering which one I should get.

"Hey cutie, is there anything I can help you with?" The store clerk asks, eyeing me like I was dessert.

"I'm just here for my vodka." I say plainly, grabbing a few bottles. He raises an eyebrow but shrugs, accepting my payment and putting them into a bag for me to carry.

_'Good thing I made that spare ID since I'm not 'officially' eighteen for another four years.'_

I take bag, ignoring the wink the store clerk gave me and stepped outside. I was just about to head to the beach when a voice called out to me.

"Arcadia? Is that you?" Turning around to find the source of the voice, I find no other than Mr. School Council President Nathaniel. He looks at me quizzically and I point to the park.

"You. Me. Vodka. Now."

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

I was really surprised to Arcadia here of all places, even more surprised to see her come out of a liquor store, I was certain she was the same age as us. I continued to ponder as she dragged me to the park, sitting down once she found a good spot. I stare at her for a moment as she opens a bottle of vodka and drinks it straight.

"Um are you sure you should be doing that?" I ask timidly. She shrugs and hands the bottle me. "Ah I'm not into drinking Arcadia... thanks anyway..." I hand the bottle back to her, giving her an awkward smile.

"Your loss." She takes another drink and leans back against the rocks, sighing as she did so.

"So are you here by yourself or are the others here too?" I hoped she wasn't here by herself, having a drunk Arcadia all by herself could turn nasty.

"Yeah the others are here but it'll be a while before I go back." She motions to the other bottles of vodka and I raise an eyebrow.

"Um... is there any particular reason why you're drinking? Or is it just for fun?"

"Ah, well isn't _that_ a story. Well I saved Peggy from a pedophile and now she's gone all lesbian on me. Crazy chick tried to kiss me, raving on about how we're going to be lesbian lovers. Now I'm not game enough to go back. The girl's are supposed to share a room together and that's something I'm not too keen on now." I burst out laughing, Arcadia looks at me as if I head grown a second head and scowl graces her battle worn face.

"A-are y-y-ou serious?" I manage in between howls of laughter. "You're out here g-getting drunk b-because Peggy has a... a crush on you?!" I found it absolutely hysterical. Here was Arcadia, a genetically enhanced soldier running away from a fan girl. Tears started to stream down my face and Arcadia started to skull her drink, a faint blush creeping up on her.

"Shut up and drink." She snaps, thrusting the bottle into my hands. I try to sit up, taking huge gulps while trying to hold back my laughter. I practically choked on it from laughing so much, earning a small chuckle from Arcadia because of my failure.

"I'll take that back before you hurt yourself or worse, drop it." She smiles and I shake my head at her.

"You sure like your vodka huh?" I ask as she guzzles it down. She nods, throwing another bottle at me.

"I may have acquired a taste for it back in Russia. I swear I've never had so much alcohol before." I stare at her for a moment.

"Vodka doesn't have much of a taste though." I say.

"Well not really no but that's why I like it. You can put it in a water bottle and no one would even know... well that is until you start tripping over things." For a moment we both stare at each other before busting out laughing, imagining one of us drunkenly stumbling around the streets with a water bottle in hand, screaming out obscenities to passers-by.

After an hour had passed we were reduced to giggling fits, the effects of the alcohol kicking in and making doing anything hard or extremely funny. Arcadia kept laughing at me as I cradled the bottle in an attempt not to drop it and I poked my tongue at her, which only seemed to amuse her more.

"Kehehe you're reaaaally funny drunk." She rambles on, trying to sit up.

"Well... you're not ah, much... better?" I say, carefully wording my sentences into something understandable but I was slightly confused on the word 'better'. Was that right? Arcadia giggles and goes back to drinking, humming a random tune.

"Yo, omigosh you know what we should do?" Arcadia suddenly squeaks out. I shake my head but ended up having to steady myself from it. She giggles and inches closer to me, a blush forming on my cheeks from the sudden close proximity.

"We should go play some pranks." To begin with I didn't think it was such a great idea but after having Arcadia constantly nagging me, I eventually caved in.

"Ah fine. We'll go play some pranks, but ah nothing too serious okay?" She cheers and hauls me up, dragging me back to town.

Amazingly enough, Arcadia was still fairly dexterous despite being drunk, or was it tipsy in her case? Either way it didn't matter. At first it was just ghosting people and gluing money to the ground, watching people try to pick it up. At some stage, though I really can't remember how, Arcadia got her hands on a pimp suits and now we're walking around trying to 'pimpin'. My pimp outfit was a velvet red with zebra print trimming. Arcadia's was a long zebra print over coat with pink trimming and fluffy pink leg warmers.

"Kehehe this is soooo fun... we should do this more often Nate." Arcadia giggles. While walking around in a pimp suit wasn't exactly something I pictured myself doing, it was surprisingly fun. With the sunglasses we wore no one would exactly know us. We walk into another store, hiding the alcohol and started to look around.

"Ahh they have spray paint! I'm getting it!" She grabs a handful of random colours, quickly paying for them and completely oblivious to the odd stare she was getting.

"Hey ahh Arcadia?" I ask. "What ahhh, what are you... planning on um doing with all that paint." She whips around and stomps her foot, scaring me in the process.

"We're going to be artists!" She shouts, mischief dancing around in her eyes.

* * *

Running around to random buildings, we started spraying stuff on the walls. By this point I was fairly certain that I was drunk as I could barely stand up and the wall looked oddly distant for some reason. I throw the can at Arcadia and she catches it without even looking up, making me slightly jealous.

_'I think I know why she had four bottles of vodka now. Crazy chick's only tipsy, maybe slightly drunk.'_

I sat there and watched as she stared to create her 'artwork', drawing lines here and there. It made me wonder just where she learnt all this. I lost track of time as I sat there watching Arcadia do her little art project. A buzz came from my phone which I had forgotten I had and took it out to see who was calling.

_'Amber?... What does she want?'_

Then it clicked.

_'Ahhhh I was supposed to be back three hours ago! How the hell did it get to be so late?'_

I couldn't answer the phone as Amber would know something was up, not to mention it's obvious that I'm drunk.

"Ohhhh you're phone's ringing! Gimme, gimme, gimme." Arcadia snatches the phone out of my hand. I try to get it back but she pins me down on the ground, sitting on top of me and holding my arms. She leans closer to me, flipping the phone open and starts to speak.

"Ohhhh helloo~ Nate can't come to the phone right now, he's uhh kinda busy right now. So yeah, ciao!" She hangs up the phone and turning it off. Handing it back to me, she gets off of me and leans against the wall, a huge smile spread across her lips.

"Hey ahh, Arcadia?" I ask and she focuses her attention on me. "Do youuu... do you think I can sstay, with you guys tonight?" I asked slowly. "It's just uhm, if I were... to go home like errr this. I don't think I'd... live." At first she was puzzled, then confused and then her eyes widened like she had some sudden revelation and jumped up to her feet.

"Ohhhhh fuck! I completely forgot about the others!" She shrieks. "Get up! We're going back." She hauls me up, dragging me back to the main street and I stumble to keep up with her. Once on the main street, she pauses for a moment, pondering over something.

"But first." She looks at the half empty bottle in her hand, swirling it around. She looks back at me with a devilish smirk and puts the bottle in my hand. "More vodka!" She giggles and runs off back to the store before I could stop her.

_'Uhhh... this is going to end badly... isn't it?...'_

* * *

**Author Note:**

**Kehehehe Arcadia and Nate as drunken, pimp delinquents. I thought it'd be funny to add into the mix and stir up an interesting story :D**

**Please review, I'd like to know what you guys thought about this chapter and hopefully it wont be too long before the next chapter is out :3**


	17. Ocean Adventures - Part II

**Author Note: Hello to all you lovely readers out there! Exams are finally OVER and I'm back bringing you more wonderful fanfiction :D**

**I'll be working as hard as I can for you guys in order to make up for my long absence so please bear with me. This one isn't as long as the previous chapter as I tried to get some done during exams, so I'll make the next one longer in return.**

Chapter Seventeen: Ocean Adventures – Part II

* * *

**Castiel POV**

_'God damn it where the hell is she?'_

It's been over three hours I can't find Arcadia anywhere. I've looked everywhere I could think of, asking everyone if they had seen her and still there was no sign of her. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sigh, slowly making my way back to the others. Grabbing a chair, I sit down, another sigh escaping my lips.

"I take it there's no sign of her?" Lys asks and I nod, too tired to give a verbal response. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll come back soon." He says, patting me on the shoulder. Lys has no idea how much I want her to come back. One, because I want to tease her the over dramatic exit and two, I really missed her. Pretty much the only reason I came here was because of her so the least she could do was at least be here instead of disappearing.

"I swear she's out to kill me." I mumble to myself, growing more agitated by the minute. A while later, I could hear drunkard laughing, which only pissed me off more as they were obnoxiously loud.

"God damn it do they have to be so noisy?" I hiss, throwing an arm over my face.

"Ummmm Castiel... you might want to see this." Lys says, nudging me. Frustrated I sit and follow his gaze.

_'What. The. Fuck?!'_

Staggering along, holding up a drunken blond was Arcadia, both of whom were dressed in ridiculous pimp costumes. As they make their way over, Arcadia stops and looks at me for a moment, then shrugs and walks off, flopping down onto the sand with Nathaniel.

"Heyyyy pass me the uhmm, what's it called... the bottle? Yeah, pass me the bottle pleeeasssse." Nathaniel asks, rolling around in the sand. Arcadia gives him the bottle and he starts drinking but I snatch it out of his hand, earning a cry of annoyance. Reading the bottle I just about smacked him over the head with it.

"Are you fucking kidding me? THIS is what you've been doing for the past three hours?" Looking down beside Arcadia, I found she had more alcohol with her. Growling in frustration, I threw the bottle back at Nathaniel.

"Hey Castiel? What's going on? We heard a lot of noise and... why is Arcadia on the ground and is that Nathaniel with her?" Iris asks, puzzled by the strange situation in front of her.

"Well, from what I can gather. It seems these two have had a date with a lot of vodka." I grumble, glaring down at Arcadia who shrugs in response.

"What, I felt like a drink and then I ran into Nate, so I took him with me. There's nothing wrong with that. We were very responsible drinkers if I do say so myself." She counters. Nate starts to yawn and she then pulls him onto her lap.

"Responsible? Arcadia, have you seen Nathaniel. The idiot can't even stand let alone form a proper sentence." I reply, watching Nathaniel mumble something unintelligible.

"Hey, I looked out for him, kept him safe. He's perfectly fine, he just needs some sleep."

"How much have you had exactly?" I question, slightly afraid of her answer. For moment she paused, counting on her fingers and holding them up to me.

"Nate's had about one, I've had three." She replies with a bored expression. By now everyone had come around to see what was going on.

"Of what exactly?" I growl, watching as Nathaniel cuddles up to Arcadia.

"Of what? Vodka of course."

_'Wait what? Bottles?! She had THREE bottles of it?! By herself?!'_

"HAHAHA. Wow man, your girl can drink. She doesn't even look tipsy." Alexy cackles. "Doesn't alcohol do anything to you?" Arcadia strokes Nathaniel's hair as he starts to fall asleep.

"Well, at one stage I did get tipsy since I haven't drank in a while but then I sobered up. So I started drinking more but it didn't do anything." She replies defeated. Meanwhile Alexy and Dakota were having a field day in the background, finding the whole situation hilarious.

"Shit if that's the case there's no way I'm ever drinking with you." Dakota snickers, freaking out once he noticed my glare. Arcadia picks up the bag, holding it out to me. I look at it cautiously, deciding I should take it from her before she decided to start drinking it. Looking into the bag, I found a whole collection of different alcohol and I wondered what she was planning on doing with it all.

"I thought I should be nice and get you guys some." Arcadia mumbles, her arm covering her face as she lounged on the beach. "Well... I suppose I better get Nate to bed. I'm gonna throw him in with you guys, try not to kill him Castiel." She moves to pick Nathaniel up, carrying him bridal style from which I found to be quite funny. I follow her to the beach house to put the alcohol away, though I wasn't too sure if I wanted it to be anywhere near Nathaniel but for the moment it looked like he wasn't going to wake up any time soon. Putting the bottles in the fridge, I walk to the bedrooms and watch as Arcadia puts Nathaniel into a bed.

"So... any reason why you went out and had yourself a little drinking party?" I ask as she walks past me, heading outside and sitting on the step.

"I err... panicked. I know that may sound weird but Peggy really did freak me out. It's not often I get confessed to and never has it ever come from a girl." She replies, fiddling with her hair. Sitting down next to her I let out a sigh, realising I've been doing it a lot recently but dismissed the thought.

"So you went and got drunk and dragged Pretty Boy into it?" That part I was confused on. Where in the hell did Nathaniel come from and why Arcadia decided to drag him into it.

"I needed a distraction and it worked mind you. The only reason why I dragged Nate along was because I don't really like drinking by myself. I would've come back and got you but I wasn't really game enough to be anywhere near Peggy." She replies while taking off her pimp hat and putting it on the step.

"Huh? Aren't you like, really good at sneaking around and stuff?" She did say earlier that she was a former soldier and sneaking around seemed to be what she does best. A hand pats me on the back, Arcadia just sits there shaking her head.

"Castiel, I'm gonna let you in on a secret." She begins. "No matter how good you are, there isn't anyone as sneaky as a news reporter. That Peggy is training in the secret art of journalists and those guys... are really fucking sneaky."

Silence fell between us. The two us looking out towards the ocean, admiring its beauty under the starry night sky.

"You're drunk." I say, looking at her with a bored expression.

"You think?" She asks and I nod.

"The secret art of journalists?" I reiterate.

"Huh... maybe you're right." She muses to herself. "Well now that you mention it, I do know something more sneaky than journalists." I look at her for a moment as she waves a hand absently around the air, humming to herself.

"Fangirls." She begins. "We had a few back at headquarters, the secretary and receptionist girls. Whoever you were partnered up with was who you lived with right. We all had our share of fangirls... and a few boys, but this one time, they actually got IN our apartment." Arcadia waves her arms around a bit. "Me and Saber, God we were freaking out. Security at Galahad is supposed to be top notch but that chick got in there somehow... absolutely refused to go back."

"So because of your... experience with fangirls... you're running away from Peggy?" I was slightly confused as to where Arcadia was going with this. Peggy wasn't a fangirl, at least I didn't think so.

"I can already see the signs, that girl is going to be a fangirl I just know it... turning lesbian after I save her, that just defies logic! Then again, I don't think fangirls understand the concept of logic." Arcadia sigh and rests her head on my shoulder, muttering something under her breath. Chuckling, I pull her into a small hug, one she quickly returns.

"You know, I've liked moments like these.." Arcadia mumbles quietly.

"Hmm and why is that?" I ask, only to be greeted with silence. "Arcadia?" I asked again, looking down at her. As she had finally calmed down, sleep seemed to have caught up with her. As gently as I could, I picked her and carried her inside.

_'I think it's time for bed.'_

* * *

**Nathaniel POV**

"Mmmph." Grabbing a pillow, I hide my head under it, shielding out the morning rays of sunlight that filtered into the room. I lay there for while, praying that the killer headache I had would go away.

_'I'll just ask mum for some painkillers.'_

In the middle of my musing, something had shifted beside me.

_'Hang on, this isn't right. No one should even be in my bed.'_

Slowly, I move the pillow, peeking an eye out from underneath and found myself falling out of bed just a slit second later.

"D-D-DAKOTA?!" I scream. "What the hell is going on? Why are you in my bed?!" A groan sounds from him and he groggily cracks an eye open at me, annoyance burning in his emerald green eyes.

"Damn, you really were wasted." He grumbles, moving his arm to block out the bright morning sun. "And for your information this isn't your bed. This isn't even your house Nathaniel."

"What?! If this isn't my place then where the hell am I? And how did I even get here in the first place?" This was really all too much. First I wake up to find myself sleeping in the same bed as Dakota and then find out that I'm not even in my own house. Dakota sighs and mumbles something into the pillow, leaving me to ask him to repeat.

"I said, you're in Iris's beach house. Arcadia brought you back after you two decided to take a dance with vodka. You really must have been smashed if you can't remember any of this." He mumbles again. Stunned, I stared at him as my brain slowly tried to process this information.

_'I went out drinking? That was never something I did, there was no way I'd...'_

"_You. Me. Vodka. Now." _

The words ran through my mind like an ill omen. Dropping back onto the floor I groaned as flashes of the previous night filled my conciousness.

_'Oh what the hell was I thinking?'_

I was so embarrassed, I couldn't believe I did something so irresponsible. On top of that, Arcadia was the one to answer my phone and that would raise quite a few questions when I got home. As I hid under a pillow, heavy footsteps sounded down the hallway, catching my attention as they came closer with each step. The door was suddenly flung open and a familiar red head stepped into the room, quickly looking at me before settling on Dakota. He walks over to the bed and kicks him out, a mess of blankets and sheets tangled around a cursing Dakota strewn across the floor.

"Dammit Castiel! Can't you like, gently shake people awake instead of kicking them out?" Dakota hisses while attempting to untangle himself from the sheets. A smirk forms on Castiel's lips and he lets out a low chuckle.

"I'll wake you up however I like, now get up, breakfast is ready. You too Pretty Boy." He says before turning on his heel and walking back out. Dakota and I share a brief glance before shrugging and getting up and following him.

The two of us wander out into the kitchen and sat down, Dakota begins to chatter with Rosalya and Melody while I rested my head on my arms and proceeded to mentally kick myself on the table.

_'My head is killing me. How much did I drink last night?'_

I figured I must have a really bad hangover, never in my entire life have I ever experienced a headache this bad.

"Hey so the pimp boy's awake huh?" A unfamiliar voice asks. Peeking out from behind my arms, I found two twins standing in front of me, one a bluenette and the other raven.

_'Those two look familiar for some reason...'_

I had probably met them from somewhere before hand but I couldn't quite put my finger on it with this headache. I grumbled a 'yes' to answer their question, earning a giggle from the others.

"Man you were gone last night." One of them said teasingly. "Cuddling up to Arcadia while completely oblivious to the death glare you were getting from Castiel."

I look back up at them, annoyed by how casual they were with me.

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" I ask grudgingly. The bluenette waved a hand around and shook his head.

"Nah, we only just met the others yesterday. We decided to come here and have a bit of fun before moving to our new school." He says casually.

"Oh yeah? And what school would that be?" I ask, gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Melody.

"Some school called Sweet Amoris High." The bluenette replied cheerfully, causing me to choke on my coffee.

"You're Armin and Alexy?!" I choke, panic setting in. The others look at me strangely, a mixture of both shock and surprise at my outburst.

_'This is not good. First time meeting the new students and I was drunk! And they don't even know I'm the school council president.'_

As I went to speak, a hand gently patted me on the head. Embarrassed, I sank into my chair and hid behind my hand. As she continued to pet me, I become increasingly annoyed with how well she looked. Unlike me, she seemed perfectly fine and was sure she had at least twice as much alcohol compared to me.

"You'll have to excuse Nathaniel's tardiness. Our school council president isn't... accustomed, to drinking." Arcadia explains, in what seemed to be a British accent? "I'm certain he'll greet you in a more dignified manner once you begin your attendance at Sweet Amoris High."

"Whoa, whoa, wait back it up." Alexy cuts in. "You mean this guy here is the school council president of Sweet Amoris High? And you guys all go there?" He asks dumbfound. I hesitantly nod, soon followed by the others. Alexy bursts out into laughter, his brother joining in as well. I could have sworn I was glowing red I was that embarrassed. Never in my life have I just wanted to curl up and hide in my bed, never to get back out again.

_'I'm never going to live this down.'_

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**Author Note:**

**Chapter seventeen done and dusted :3**

**I hope you guys are enjoying yourself and please don't forget to review. I wanna know what you guys think, be it bad or good I won't bite back at you. _(I've met a few people who don't take well to criticism, never ends well.)_**

**Until next time, this is ChocoboDownUnder signing off.**


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